Morgukia and Marfedelom's Deception
by ZOLTAR-XD
Summary: In the lands of Inaris, evil is brewing in the shadows. Demogorgon, the two headed demon prince, is gathering his forces and preparing to march on the mortal world. With his top lieutenant, Marfedelom, leading the charge he plans to conquer the whole world and put all mortal races under subjugation. But, fate will have a handful of unlikely friends stand in his way.
1. Chapter 1

Morgukia and Marfedelom's Deception

Chapter 1

"So where are we going Morgukia?" Asked Aireon, an Elf I met on my way to Bork. I turned to look at the odd company of travelers that decided to follow me. Two rouges, an elf and a Halfling, Aireon and Bodo Fraggins. Three fighters, a human, a dwarf, and a dragonborn; Mythrik Locke, Drakak, and Bhar. And Cruven; a human paladin.

"We're traveling to a small village called Bork. A good friend of mine and my monastery, Torvin, a very brave dwarf paladin, has passed away. I was going to visit his grave and pay my respects." They all nodded with agreement and we continued to the town.

That was until Drakak said," Why does the human have horns?" he was talking about me; blessed dwarf, is probably dumber than the stones he mines for a side job. But for what he lacks in brains, he makes up for in his skill as a fighter.

"He's a Tiefling you idiot," replied the other fighter Mythrik, a human. We all chuckled at the dwarf, and then we reached the front gate where a guard stood doing what guards do best, standing.

"Halt!" he said, looking quite confused at our little party, "What business do you have here?"

I decided to approach him to explain our situation.

"We're here to pay our respects to Torvin, the paladin that protected this village for many years." He nodded and lets us pass though, but something in the back of my mind told me this wasn't going to go as smooth as I thought.

When we enter, we decide to go separate ways for a couple of hours until the funeral.

"Me and Bhar are going to the trading post for a bit and check it out" said Bodo, I looked to Bhar and spoke to him in his native tongue, Dragonic.

 _"Keep an eye on your friend there; make sure he doesn't get into trouble._ " He nodded in agreement.

Aireon spoke," I'm just going to look around for a bit," But then Bodo started speaking in a language I was not familiar with; it sounded kind of soft and poetic like. It has to be elvish, I thought to myself, and the two rouges are speaking it too each other and the rest of us don't understand them, great. I hope I can bail them out if they get into trouble. There's good in them, even if they don't see it.

"Well that's interesting Bodo, stealing stuff and all that crime sounds fun for everyone!" Replied the human, Mythrik; what a surprise, it's not uncommon for a human to know elvish, but it's nice to have more bilingual people with us.

Panicked and angry because he actually thought about taking from this poor small town I spoke in Infernal, a language that all Tieflings like me know from birth, to Bodo, " _You, master Bodo, will travel with me and anyone else to the ceremony, are we clear?"_ He submitted, I'm guessing he also knows Infernal too.

So Mythrik, Bodo, Cruven, and I, traveled to wait at the cemetery while Aireon and Drakak explored the town. We told stories about when we were first deciding to choose our professions and how tough our training was for it.

At about four in the afternoon everyone met at the entrance and we went in to his crypt, it wasn't huge but it was tall and wide enough to fit all of us.

I spoke first," Torvin was a dear friend of mine, and an excellent trainer. He will be missed; any of you want to say a few words?"

All of them at once looked up at me with a confused look, like the one you would give your parents when they ground you out of nowhere.

"Um, he was a good dwarf." Was Drakak's words, and everyone else mumbled something I didn't hear. And just as we were leaving his crypt, we heard screaming; well it was more like some creatures we're yelling in the air for no apparent reason.

"Look! Goblins!" shouted Cruven. He was right, there was about seven of them, six lightly unarmored and smaller ones were following the orders of a taller and more armored one. I recognized the taller one, I had helped Torvin kill his leader; he was a goblin blackblade named Guldur.

"Throw a Javelin Cruven, weaken their leader!" said the surprisingly enthusiastic Halfling. Cruven, with all his strength, hurled a javelin right at Guldur. It sored through the air right at his head; the goblin then grabbed it out of the air and broke in half on his knee. Our jaws dropped.

I immediately went into strategy mode, "Whoa, okay everyone come close and make a formation, when they get here we'll have the advantage against them. Bodo and Aireon flank them and try to get the drop on them while we engage them from the front. Cruven, you get in the middle of Mythrik and Bhar. Drakak, get in front of him, I'll be behind him and move when I need to." And then we engaged, and Aireon got spotted and surrounded by three of them.

"Could someone bail me out!" yelled Aireon as he was trying to fight them off, Cruven threw another javelin and picked one of them off and he was able to escape. I decided to go left and engage one of the cutters, the lower goblins, I took the flat of my shortsword and knocked his head clean off. After this we all engaged and took a couple more out, and then I got surrounded by two of them. The one in front of me, hit me in the chest and knocked the wind out of me and then the second one, he was on my left, hit me in the head with his club and knocked me unconscious. The last I remembered was seeing Drakak attacking them, but missing horribly; and then I blacked out.

…...

"Wake up lad, your mother needs some water go fetch some from the well in the town. I'll make you something to eat for when you get back. Now go!" commanded my father.

Obeying his orders I shot up out of my bed and got dressed, while tripping over my tail four times trying to get out the door. Mother had been sick for about two years, and being a twelve year old Tiefling juggling school and caring for a sick mother at the same time is taxing on me. So I bolted to the town well, bucket in hand, to get some water for my mother. As I was pulling the bucket back up I saw a group of Monks from the monastery of Eberron, I've seen them before helping the community, healing the wounded and sick, and feeding the poor or whatever else monks do to help. Some of them even teach at the school or help build and repair the structures around of the town.

And then, it started like it did every day, "Hey demon! Get out of that well, that's for people, not filthy, evil devils like you!" shouted some old man coming out of the tavern next to the well. This didn't really phase me anymore, being a Tiefling people tend to act racist towards me because of our demonic appearance. I have three other Tiefling friends that are the same age as me who experience the same amount of persecution as me.

As I turned around with a full bucket of water I hear,"yeah get the hell outa here!"

All of sudden I was assaulted by an unknown thrown object that broke against by back, probably a bottle, and it threw me to the ground. I closed my eyes before I hit the ground instinctively, but noticed that I hadn't touched the ground yet. When I opened my eyes I felt the top of a foot on my forehead keeping me from touching the ground, and then it lifted me up standing again and I was standing face to face with a monk, human from what I could tell; he was bald with a long brown beard and shiny brown eyes, he had some weird symbol on his forehead and dragon tattoos along his arms, he was wearing red robes, which was odd because the other monks had grey robes.

"Are you all right boy?" he asked. Boy? I thought, that's new.

"Y-Yes I'm good, thank you." I replied, kind of startled by his appearance.

"Here, your bucket, nothing spilled so don't worry about filling it up again. Would you mind if I walk back with you?"

I was still a bit startled from the experience, "Uh, sure I guess, it's for my mother."

So we walked back to my house and I noticed something odd, people greeted the monk with bows and other gestures you give to people in high authority or big religious figures. I was confused, what's so special about this monk? As we walked, we disused my education and how the town was going, he also asked me what I thought about the monks. I told him that they were pretty cool and interest me. When we got to the door, my father greeted us.

"Morgukia- who's this? You know what not important right now; go tend your mother she's dying of thirst." So I hurried to my mothers' room; she's a Tiefling, that's where I get it, she has some illness that the lightly educated doctors couldn't diagnose. So I brought her some water and she woke to see me,

"Morgukia, good morning son; and thank you for the water." She took the bucket from me and chugged about half of it before I slowed her down so she wouldn't drown.

"Thank you my son, why are you not at school?" She asked.

Uh oh, well here it goes. "I stayed here; your sick mother, and you need to be cared for and sometimes father isn't here to help you."

She looked like she wanted to protest, but just didn't have the energy for it. She just closed her eyes again and held my hand for a little, and then she fell into a deep sleep. When I went back to the kitchen, the Monk and my father stopped talking about whatever their conversation was and looked at me.

"Son, we have something important to tell you," my father said, he had this sad look on his face," the monk has a proposition for us, and it's your decision."

I was confused, what is my father doing, or what has he done?

"We can heal your mother, to full health. On one condition," the Monk said, I was excited, like a new hope had entered me. He could heal my mother? To full health? I almost took the offer without knowing everything, but just to make sure I wasn't signing up to become some slave or something, I kept listening,

"After I heal her, you must pack up your things and come with me north to my monastery, and become a Monk of Eberron," I was shocked, I had no clue what to say. So I started thinking, become a monk, isn't that a for life thing? I'm not sure if I want to commit to something like that. But if I don't, my mother won't last the next winter.

"Well lad, what do you think?" I had a pit in my stomach; go, or stay? "Make up your mind boy, I leave tomorrow,"

At that point I decided to make a decision that could alter my life forever.

"Yes," I said," heal her, I'll pack my things while you do that." He smiled, got up and went to heal my mother. Tomorrow is going to be a new day.

…..

"He's waking up!" shouted Bodo.

I opened my eyes and saw my friends standing over me; some of them had goblin blood splattered on them.

"I'm guessing we won?" I asked.

"Yeah you missed one hell of a fight," said Cruven as he was giving me a hand up.

When I finally got on my feet I noticed something, when the fight started there was seven goblins. When I looked at the battlefield I only noticed six bodies, and a blood trail leading into the forest.

"Where is the blackblade? Did he die?" I asked,

"I thought he did, Bodo wounded him and then I planted an arrow in his chest and he fell to the ground. He must have lived and crawled away while we were getting you up. Should we go hunting for him?" replied Aireon,

"No, with his wounds he shouldn't last very long in the forest; hopefully." I said

I felt the part of my head where the goblin struck me, it stung, and when I looked at my hand there was a little bit of blood. I'll live, I thought, just got to be more careful next time. So we turned around to leave and noticed the grave digger, who probably witnessed the entire bloody conflict.

"Well who's gonna help pick up this mess? I dun't git paid enuff to burry people, let alone gublins." He said. Ugh, his grammar is killing me faster than the goblins. I thought. His speech was giving me a head ache.

"We just saved your town from some goblins, show some appreciation!" said Mythrik, annoyed at the unappreciative grave digger.

"Yeah, if we hadn't shown up you could be dead right now. With goblins munching on you." said Bodo, trying to scare the grave digger.

"Well, all right, I guess ya dun't haf to. Thank you fer killin dem," said the grave digger, with a little bit more appreciation for us.

So we all decided to go ahead and take the rest of the day off, half of us went to secure rooms and half of us went to buy some pints. I was looking forward to resting for a bit, my head still hurt and a pint didn't sound so bad. It was dark when we got situated with rooms and got some ale, and then it was time to answer a difficult question. Should we all stay together for another adventure or separate and go back to our regular lives. Aireon turned to me and asked, "So what's next Morgukia?"

I was a little shocked," Um, well I was going to leave in the morning to the next town and see if my skills are needed there. Do any of you wish to join me?"

They all mumbled, to themselves and each other. And they all came to a conclusion," Yes." They all decided to stick together, what a strange world. Six, random strangers, decide to come together and travel for the thrill of adventure. Who knows what we'll encounter; dragons, dungeons, trolls, or maybe evil wizards. All I know is that this would be the group that could change the world; I sense their potential to do so. So we raised our pints in the new bond of friendship that arose from slaying a few goblins, and a new adventure.

When we were fixing to turn in for the night, Drakak and Mythrik got drunk and passed out and the rest of us were finishing up. And then a dwarf, a really old dwarf, approached us.

"Hello I'm Torvins' father, Torvo; I just wanted to thank you all for protecting my son's grave. It's a shame to have your son buried before you are, but at least he died peacefully. Thank you so much for your help." He was really old, probably 450 to 500 years old. I never got to meet Torvo before and I never really knew Torvin had a father, or that he was alive. We just raised our mugs to him in silence and he went back home, so we decided to do the same. Tomorrow is going to be a new day.


	2. Chapter 2

Second chapter of the book, WHOOOP! I started the entire thing over the summer and based it off of my character's point of view. The reason the 1st chapter may have ended kinda weird is because when we had the game we weren't sure that we would have another. But thankfully we did, so here you go.

Chapter 2

When we woke up the next morning, we waited at the front gate for an hour for Mythrik and Drakak. When they finally arrived to the front gate, well more like stumbled to the front gate because of their hangovers, Torvo followed.

"Here, I think you might need this. It's a map that leads to the next town called Dustinshire. It's much bigger than here so be careful. Thank you all again for your help; oh and here, this is a concoction to deal with that nasty hangover," He said, and handed us a crudely drawn map that led to Dustinshire and a waterskin with what smelled like, well, urine. He must've drawn this himself, I thought. It had no color and looked like it was folded improperly many times, and had numbers instead of marks for terrain. It basically looked like a three year old drew it.

"Thank you very much, sorry for your loss," and we went on from Bork to Dustinshire.

Instead of an almost three day journey to Dustinshire; we went by a horse drawn cart that Drakak owned, which cut the travel almost in half. As we were traveling we saw an old man up the road, it looked like he was having some problems with his wagon. As we went passed he asked for some help,

" Hello there! Do you lads think you can help me with my wagon? The back wheel came off and I'm not strong enough to put it back on, I've got a spare in the back if you're willing to help."

We all grouped up and discussed what to do about the old man,

"I don't trust him, we should just move on," said Aireon

"No, he needs our help we should help him," I chimed in

And then the old man interrupted us, he must've heard Aireon," I'll pay each of you three hundred silver for helping me."

That seemed to seal the deal for most of them so we got out of the cart to help. Bhar and Mythrik lifted it while I screwed in the spare wheel," Thank you so much for your help, I don't know what I would do if you hadn't showed up. Here, twenty days' worth of rations for your trip; good luck." He said with praise. "What are you doing with all of these supplies?" asked Bodo, I think he and Aireon may have taken something, but I wasn't sure so I kept to myself.

"I'm on a supply run from Dustinshire to send goods to the guard at Bork," he answered

After that we continued on down the road for a bit, discussing random things like the battle with the goblins and what we would do when we got to Dustinshire. A few hours passed and the sun was over our heads and it looked to be about noon." Look! Up on the road there's a blockade." Shouted Drakak, sure enough in the middle of the road was four men standing in our way. One of them looked different than the others; he was more built and seemed to be giving orders to the other three. "Look, the bigger one looks like a bandit, I'm betting he hired some rabble to help him. Who's going to play diplomat so we can avoid conflict." I said

"Why don't we just kill them and be on our way?" asked Bodo

"No he's right, we shouldn't force bloodshed. I'll try to reason with them." Said Cruven

"Alright, but I think me and Bodo should try to flank them stealthily," said Aireon

We agreed that they should take flanking positions while the rest of us try to negotiate with them. As we approached they attempted to intimidate us with growls and snarls. But it just made them look more ridiculous.

"Halt there, this is a toll road. Two hundred gold pieces now for your safe passage or this is gonna get messy." The bandit snarled

"We don't want trouble, just let us through." Then he changed is tone to a more dark, menacing tone, "We don't want to kill you, but I will personally cut you into tiny shreds of nothing if you don't move now!" Said Cruven; wow, I want to move now. They changed their stance to more like a defensive one, but the rabble were shaking in their boots.

"Last chance worms," said the bandit, his expression didn't change. He was really determined to take our money; I was almost tempted to give to him so he didn't have to die. However, I was kinda looking forward to it; a fight would be just the thing I need to hone my skills. Shortly after that Aireon killed one of the rabble with a well-placed shot to the head, and then the fight was on.

We all scattered towards them and picked our targets, to even things a little I decided to use my martial arts instead of my sword. So I used the confusion of the battle to get right next to one of the rabble before he noticed me, and before he could react I palm struck him in the middle of his chest and caved it in. It killed him instantly, and when I turned to engage the bandit leader all of his friends were killed by mine and we had him surrounded. He took out his dagger and threw it at Drakak, and planted it right in his knee. Frenzied by pain he charged him and knocked his head clean off with his Warhammer and it flew through the sky and into the forest." Wow Drakak, your first successful hit on something." Teased Mythrik, we all teased and congratulated the dwarf for his kill while I fixed his knee and patched it up. On the bright side, he got a free dagger.

"Hey, it's getting late we should probably make camp," suggested Cruven," look, the suns nearly down we should probably get some rest."

"Can't we just continue on? We could probably make it there by early or mid-morning." Asked Drakak, I pondered his question. But I decided it'd be best for everyone to get some rest and continued in the morning. "No, Cruven is right we should rest up and continue in the morning. Besides, I need to re-dress Drakak's wound before he sleeps so it'll heal," I said, everyone else agreed and so we went for about another hour and found a clearing to make camp on. Aireon decided to sleep in a tree at the end of the clearing, just in case something came out of the forest while we were sleeping. I decided to meditate for a bit before I went to sleep, and something weird happened. I felt a power of some sort flowing in me, and I could detect it in my friends. This must be ki energy, I thought mesmerized by this power, I remember Master Kia teaching us about it, but he said we wouldn't be able to use it until we proved ourselves as monks. I was excited, but I decided to sleep so I wouldn't pass out if something important happens.

We woke up early in the morning; I think it was about seven o'clock when everyone finally came around. Aireon came back from his tree and told us he heard and saw nothing the entire night. So with Drakak at the reigns, nodding in an out of sleep the whole ride there, we reached Dustinshire and when we did a guard opened the gate and inspected the cart for any illegal substances and other things. After that we all got out and determined where everyone was going for the day,

"I'm gonna go to the market to see what cool stuff is there, who's coming with?" said Bodo,

Mythrik, Cruven, Aireon, and Bhar decided to head out with him. But I decided to go and get some things like rooms and maybe a job for us.

"I'll go get a room and ask the captain of the guard about a job he might have for us. Let's all meet at the cart in three hours alright." I said, they all nodded in agreement and we all went to our destinations. It wasn't really expensive at all to secure wealthy housing space for everyone except Aireon, who wanted aristocratic housing. It took me about an hour to rent rooms and get to the guards headquarters; when I got there their secretary greeted me with a very I-don't-care-get-out expression,

"Can I help you…. Sir?" she said very snotty and nasally, "Um, yeah can I speak to the captain? I just wanted to know if he had some jobs for me and my friends." I asked a little offended that she said "Sir" like she didn't fully mean it.

"Well he's not here right now, please sit over there." She pointed over to a bench sitting in the corner of the room. So I went over and sat down, for what seemed like days, I started to nod off for a moment when the door swung open and in walked the captain; with Mythrik in chains.

"Hey wait! Sir, why do you have my friend handcuffed?" I asked giving Mythrik the when-I-bail-you-out-I'm-beating-you look. "Your "friend" was trying to steal from one of the vendors, and when I saw him he couldn't come up with a reliable excuse so I put him in irons." He said, the captain was a big burly guy, he had about a foot over me and maybe ninety pounds on me, but he had this cruel look on his face. I didn't worry about it, so I decided to try to negotiate bail. "How bad was his crime? Will I be able to bail him out today?" I asked," It was only a minor offense, I suppose you can just wait for him for maybe an hour? After that you're free to come get him." He said, I decided to do so," Okay, I have another question, me and a few more of my friends wanted to know if you had a job open for us. We are all very capable warriors." He took a second to think about it," Give me a sec to lock up your friend and then we'll talk." After that he proceeded to haul Mythrik off his temporary cell. But, only seconds later, he returned from another part of the building.

"Can I help you sir?" he asked, he seemed exactly the same so I was confused when he didn't recognize me. "Uhh, hi? We just had a conversation about you locking my friend up and giving us a job." I said, he seemed extremely confused," I haven't locked anyone up today, but if it makes you feel better we can go look." So we headed down to Mythrik's cell, and he was shocked; I convinced him to let him go with a warning. "Okay sure, is there anything else you need?" I took this as an opportunity to see if he would give us a job, "Do you have any jobs available for a small band of adventurers?" I asked, "Well now that you mention it, there's this goblin blackblade that's been gathering the stray goblins in the forest. Our Intel suggests that he's trying to get revenge on a couple of adventurers that nearly killed him. But now that I think about it, it's too dangerous for you so never mind; we'll take care of it." I was just about to ask for something else, but then it hit me. Wait, a blackblade trying to get revenge on a couple of adventurers? No, it can't be. I thought, "What is the blackblade's name?" I asked, "I think it's something like Guldur. He's never been a threat before thou-"I stopped him, "Hold up, where is that coward hiding?" I was angered, angered because that sniveling piece of trash was still alive. "The east side of town, but it's dangerous. I don't care how well equipped you say you are you're not allowed to go." I grabbed Mythrik and we went out of there. As a sign of discipline I went to smack him upside the head, but he stopped me. However, he got the message and so we went over to the cart to wait for everyone. Drakak was already there, he looked winded; everyone else arrived shortly after. So I decided to break the news to everyone,

"Guys, I have grim news," they went quiet, "Guldur survived the attack, he's massing units to try and kill us. He's in a cave just east of town, but the captain doesn't want us to go there; he thinks his men can handle it. I propose that we leave at night, and take a stealth advantage against him and end him. Once, and for all," they all liked the idea and we were about to go to the tavern to wait for nightfall, until I turned around to the captain of the guard behind me.

"Before you say anything, I agree with you. Go ahead and go, but on one condition. My men get ALL the credit for clearing it out. And they have claim for any of your items if you die. Deal?" he said and extended his hand, when I studied his face though; I noticed he had bright blue eyes and the same cruel face. I was a little concerned until Mythrik asked him a question," I thought you had brown eyes?" He looked at him with a cruel grin, "No, I've always had these eyes. I'm flattered that you like to stare at my face and all, but I don't swing that way." Oh, burn. "We accept your deal captain." I said, and shook his hand, and then we went to the tavern to wait for nightfall.

When night time came around we decided to go ahead and get over there around eleven o'clock. After walking for about forty five minutes we came across a cave with a faint glow coming out of it; we were about forty meters away from the entrance sitting behind a bush. We decided to send Bodo and Aireon to scout the entrance and clear any guards that could be hiding. After about ten minutes we heard the most, idiotic sound for a signal.

"CAW CAW! CAW CAW! CAAAAAW CAAAAAAW!" it sounded like Bodo, what an idiot. When we got there, there weren't any guards running out to kill us so we sneaked our way into the cave. Today was going to be Guldur's last, or mine.


	3. Chapter 3

3rd chapter, yup. After this the game really picked up so just bear with me ok? Sometime after this I'm going to post a custom story I've been working on, so be sure to check it out, only problem is that I don't know what category to put it in because its a custom story so if y'all have any ideas let me know. Oh and if your into elder scrolls fanfic check out The Nova Elite he's pretty good

Chapter 3

We slowly entered the cave, only lit by a really dim campfire. There were about six goblin cutters, two by the campfire, two by a rock on the left side of the cave, and two by a log on the right side with a tent pitched up behind the two in front of the fire; it had another dim fire coming out of it so we assumed Guldur was in it. They all appeared to be sleeping, so those of us not in hulking heavy armor moved up; Bodo stayed at the entrance and shot one of the two on the left side without waking anyone up. Mythrik and Drakak went to the ones on the right who were asleep on the log; with discretion Drakak crushed the windpipe of one of them, but when Mythrik went to kill the other one he swung and missed with his greatsword just barely. However, he threw himself off balance and fell on top of the goblin, crushing him on impact.

I turned my attention to the two at the campfire, Aireon did the same. I took one of my darts and, with perfect aim, tossed one into one of their eyes; he opened the other and looked at me, his eyes wide with terror, but he wasn't able to speak because he died a few seconds later. Aireon pinned the other one's head to a log and went to go kill Guldur, I followed and took out the fire pit; not everyone had Darkvision but those of us that did were okay. And then, Cruven yelled,

"Behind us, blackblades! They knocked out Bodo I need back up!" I took off over there; vaulting over a big rock, I out ran Cruven and led the charge with him and Bhar to take on four blackblades. They were all standing over Bodo, who lay unconscious on the ground; one of them turned and looked at me, I was the last thing he saw. I struck him in the jaw with my left hand and used the momentum and spin kicked with my right leg and broke his neck. By that time Drakak got there so I disengaged and let them fight, I wanted to make sure Guldur died so I ran back over there, and saw Aireon standing over his body with an arrow in him. I turned around to go back and help the others and saw that they killed all of them with ease and Bodo, a little shaken, standing up and surveying the battle.

"Is that all of them?" yelled Mythrik, we all looked around for a small bit just to make sure that there wasn't any more of them lurking around.

"Yeah that's all of them," said Bhar, "loot who you killed," I looted the goblins that I slayed and then sat by the campfire; Mythrik couldn't see what was happening and threw a torch into it after I put it out. I had used a bit of my Ki when I attacked the blackblade, so I started to meditate for a brief moment and noticed something; I felt something different, like an attunement with elements around me. So, I tried something, I looked at the fire and thought go out, and the fire went out. I was astounded! I knew that some of the monks could do that but I never thought I'd figure it out!

"Hey who turned out the light?" said Mythrik,

"Don't be alarmed, it's just me. Watch this." I did the same thing I did to put it out except backwards and, lo and behold, it lit again. They all thought it was really cool, and so we started to leave, but I needed to do one thing before that. "Hey, someone bring me a sharp, medium size stick; I need to do something, just in case." Bodo brought me the stick, and I went to Guldur's body, with my shortsword I decapitated him and stick his head on the end of the stick. Everyone was a little startled, but they didn't say anything about it, when we got back to the entrance I stuck the stick in front of it to warn other goblins who try to settle in these lands. As we were heading out to go back towards town, we saw the captain of the guard.

"What the hell are you doing here!? I specifically told you NOT to come here." He yelled, he was fixing to pop a blood vessel. But I noticed something; he had brown eyes instead of blue.

"You told us we could come down here and wipe them out, I thought you had blue eyes?" said Cruven,

"What are you talking about?" he said, he was really irritated and confused; but then someone came up from behind him, and before we could say anything the mystery person snapped his neck. Everyone jumped back and pulled out their weapons, we were about to charge him until he put his hands up and we noticed who he was. He was the captain of the guard, the one with blue eyes instead of brown. And then he started to transform into in to someone different, black smoke rose around him as he undergo the process, when it was finished he looked like an elf; he had some demonic looking armor, with a staff with what appeared to look like a blackened human skull in one hand, his eyes were bright red with evil.

He started to talk; his voice had changed to a more sinister tone, each word carrying malice as they left his mouth. "Hold on now men, I did not come to fight I came with a proposition for you all. My master, Demogorgon, and I have been watching you since Bork, and he is impressed with all of you. Come back with me and serve in his army, and you will be rewarded greatly." Aireon and Drakak wanted no part in it and charged him, flanking him on both sides, but with a simple lift of his free hand he shot out a powerful blast that split and hit both of them simultaneously, knocking them to the side.

"Stop friends! Let me deal with this," I said, and so I slowly approached him; and when we were face to face, I felt something thundering within me, a new power with such strength that I couldn't contain it. I extended my hand out for a handshake, and as he was getting close to greeting it I let it out. Let it out is kinda an understatement, all of a sudden the spell thunderwave exploded out of me; sending rocks, dirt, and the loudest thunder clap ever, in every direction. He stumbled back a few feet, but decided to talk instead of fight.

"Well, since you won't listen to reason I refuse to stay, but please consider my offer. It would be a waste to destroy you." He said, and just as he turned to leave, Mythrik shouted,

"That's right, turn your tail and run you cowardly rat!" He turned, his eyes an even brighter, sinister red.

"You know Mythrik, I remember you," his voice now booming louder, "My dragon feasted quiet well on the corpses of your parents!" and with that a giant cloud of black smoke surrounded him, while sinister laughter followed the event. And in an instant, he vanished, leaving a rock with a bright red skull painted on it. We stood around the rock in a circle, until Mythrik picked it up. He was trembling with rage, so much that he crushed the rock in his hand to dust.

"Well where do we go now?" asked Bodo, I turned and noticed he was asking me. Everyone looked to me. "I'm going back home, I know where the dragon lives. I'm going back there to kill it!" Mythrik yelled, he was letting his anger control him, I thought to calm him down.

"Calm down Mythrik, there's no use in using your anger for revenge, it'll only get you and the rest of us killed," he lashed out, "THAT LITTLE HARLOT KILLED MY FAMILY! I'm going to kill his pet; afterwards I'll rejoin you all." Everyone seemed uneasy to join him.

"Did they ever teach you about Marfedelom at your monastery Morgukia?" asked Aireon.

As soon as he said that it hit me; I do know who Marfedelom is, the Grand Master taught our history sessions and every now and then he would bring up his name. "Yes they did, but he is no ordinary warlock. His own name means "Death" in a secondary dialect of Dragonic. Maybe if we head back to the monastery we can find out more about him and see if someone has ever defeated him."

Everyone agreed to go, except for Mythrik, "No, I'm going to my family's grave. I won't kill his pet just yet. Afterwards I'll come join all of you at the monastery." We all understood why he needed to go there; he just met the owner of the monster that killed his parents, and he needs wisdom and clarity. Visiting his parents will remind him of what he needs to do and why, I hope.

"How long is the travel to get there?" asked Bhar.

"About a month's travel on foot, but with Drakak's cart we can probably cut that travel in half." I turned to Drakak and pat him on the back, but he had this guilty look on him,

"Um, about that, I'll tell yall when we get back to town." So we all headed to the entrance of town, but before we went in Cruven put us to a jerking halt, "Stop! Look at the top of the entrance!" We all looked to the top of the entrance and saw wanted posters, with our faces! All of ours said "Wanted for accomplice in bank robbery", except for Drakak's; his said "Wanted for bank robbery and destruction of property." We decided to head out then and there so we didn't alert all the guards, and then have them find their dead captain in a location we weren't allowed to be at.

Aireon decided to turn our attention away from Drakak, "So let's start our journey-", he then teleported five feet to the left, we were all shocked! "How did you do that!" said Bhar, "I don't know, it happened when I said journey-"and he teleported back five feet backwards. So he took off a ring that he must've taken off Guldur's body, it was probably enchanted with blink; blink teleports the wearer five feet in any direction on the command word, so the command word was probably journey.

After that strange event we decided to head north, to my monastery, hopefully we'll discover how to defeat Marfedelom.

…..

We hid for a day in the forest just outside Dustinshire; Cruven got a letter from his order and had to leave us. Drakak admitted that he blew up and robbed the bank and sent his cart back to his home so now we had to walk everywhere. Bodo had a contact in the town and he gave us a map to my monastery and we decided to leave and head there. On the map it had four locations other than Dustinshire; on the road a few miles up was a military checkpoint that we'd need to get though. After that was a fork in the road, one that lead to a destroyed village (that's what the map said), and the other lead to a small town called Dregu. After Dregu was another fork that led to Mount Hilcrest and The Monastery of Eberron.

And then, I thought for a second. I know what that destroyed village is called; I hope it's not the one I think it is. "Mythrik, do you know what the name of that village is?" I asked him, and he just looked down at the ground with a sad look on his face. "Yes, it's called Hearthshire. It's my home village."

"Well, do you want to visit your parent's grave?" asked Aireon, he nodded and so we decided to continue on. We continued down the road for five hours and finally came across the checkpoint, but we didn't get close enough to get spotted. We saw four guards at the gate and one sentry a story and a half above them. The wooden fort walls went two stories high and were pointed at the top, and the walls seemed to go on for miles into the forest.

"LETS CHARGE THEM!" shouted Drakak, but before he could start I nearly close lined him," No, we don't know how many are in the checkpoint and we don't want to add more to our bounty." I said, we all sat for a moment and punched Bhar and Drakak whenever they suggested charging the checkpoint. I suggested that we light a tree on fire near their walls and sneak through during the confusion, but then Mythrik had a great idea.

"Why don't we use Bhar's and Aireon's disguise kits and dress up the rouges as bounty hunters, and bind us with rope, and escort us through the checkpoint." We all thought that was an awesome idea so we dressed Aireon and Bodo up as bounty hunters. When we approached the guards; me, Drakak, Mythrik, and Bhar were tied and bound. They stopped us,

"Halt, what is your business here?" said one of the guards, "We're traveling to Dregu to turn in the bounty on their heads." Said Bodo, one of the guards looked and saw that three of us where missing, "Where are the other three? There's no way you'll get the whole reward without the other three." Aireon looked at him and said, "They fled deep into the forest, we'll come back for them later." After that they let us right on through, and there was an extra thirty guards inside. They only gave Bodo dirty looks, and he whispered the word racists. I whispered his name in Infernal and stared speaking to him with it,

"Bodo, tell everyone else in Elvish not to screw this up. Make it sound like your insulting us." He nodded and then barked my message to everyone else. When we finally made it out of there we untied ourselves and Mythrik, Bodo, and Bhar decided to go the destroyed village while the rest of us went to Dregu.

Dregu is a really small, poorly educated, dirty town. We decided to not even stay in it and we went on to the monastery. I almost wanted to stay and help, but my quest is too crucial to stop right now. We traveled for a few more weeks and eventually met up with Mythrik and them; he told us that some zombies were waiting for them in the graveyard and appeared to be controlled by Marfedelom. When we asked how he knew that, he said they found a stone with a red skull that fell out of one of the corpses. When we got nearer to the monastery, we were shocked. Above it was a red, giant, swirling cloud. And on the ground were legions of undead and about one-hundred monks fighting them with ease.

"Um, that wasn't there when I left," I said, still frightened but curious about the red cloud. "Should we go help?" asked Bodo, but right when he spoke the Grandmaster walked out; he was a medium sized man with a long grey beard, and he wore a white and gold monk robes. He walked down the steps until he reached the last one, and looked around at all the undead plaguing his monastery. With one clap, he cast such a powerful thunderwave that it knocked us down from all the way back there. He had destroyed the entire army of undead, without leaving the steps of the monastery; it is a rare privilege to see the Grandmaster fight.

As we got closer we saw some of the other monks clearing the undead away from the road and burning their bodies. When we finally got into the monastery the Grandmaster was waiting for us.

"Hello Grandmaster," I said with a bow, he looked at me with his piercing blue eyes and spoke in a very gruff voice, "Welcome back Morgukia, it is nice of you to finally visit back at the monastery." He then looked at my friends and proceeded to name them, "And this must be Mythrik, Bodo, Aireon, Bhar, and Drakak. How odd of you to come together in such manner, a funeral, and to stay by each other's side because of some goblins. So why are you here?" I had the feeling he already knew why but I told him nonetheless,

"We need information on Marfedelom, he visited us two months ago near a cave we cleared of a goblin named Guldur. He requested that we join his army and serve his master, Demogorgon." He had a grim look on his face, like he dreaded this question, "We actually don't have much on him, he believes he is an orphan and thinks that serving Demogorgon is his life goal, he hasn't appeared for a few decades though. But, the last time he was here he waged war all across the land in hopes of bringing it to its knees to serve Demogorgon." I got frustrated, "Is there really nothing else about him? Any weaknesses or people who've defeated him before?" he just shook his head,

"However," he continued, "I have some special items for all of you; I think they will interest you." He then opened this chest behind him and started handing items to everyone; it appeared to be magical because he was pulling weapons of out of it that seemed too big to fit with all the other items in there.

"I believe this goes to Cruven, the one who went back to his order for a time." He pulled out a good sized javelin, and it had strange runes and markings that I didn't recognize. He threw it at the wall and strait through an armor stand and let it sit for a few seconds. He then extended his arm and opened his hand, and then all the runes on the javelin started to glow yellow and it flew right back into his hand.

"Next, a ring for master Bodo; be sure not to drop it or lose it in a volcano," he took the ring and studied it for a moment; it had in Infernal the word "vanish", and when he said the words he disappeared! Now we have an invisible Halfling on our side.

"And now, you Aireon, a short bow," that's what it looked like, but it had a strange golden glint to it. He notched an arrow, and in almost the same time it took to fire one arrow, he shot another. And I've seen this elf fight, he can shoot an arrow in less than five seconds at a target; but now he can do two in the same amount of time.

"You, Drakak, I give you Thunderhammer, now you carry the force of thunder with your blows." It looked like a warhammer, but the top part looked like a thunder cloud with a lightning bolt as the spike. You could feel the hairs of your neck stand up as you stood around it.

"Mythrik Locke, I give you Dragon's Bane, it belonged to your father before we found it as we were searching for survivors in Hearthshire." He pulled out a silver longsword, the hilt looked like a red dragon's tail, and where the hilt and blade met was a dragon's head that appeared to be "breathing" the sword; just like a dragon would breathe fire.

"Bhar, I give you this greatsword. It may not appear to do much but it carries lightning with each strike! Use it well." It was exactly as he described it, a greatsword with some lightning.

"And now, you Morgukia, I give you this staff so that you may become one with it as you have become one with your Ki." It was a regular two-handed quarterstaff, but right when I held it I could feel my Ki energy flowing through it. Like the staff was just another extension of myself.

As we were thanking him for these gifts, his eyes turned white and he spoke with a ghastly tone, "Go to the kingdom of Rivian across the sea," as he finished this sentence he commanded us to take a ship from the docks and go, you just simply don't ignore the grandmasters visions. We were to go and speak to King Garret of Rivian, and see if he is in need of our aid. But for now, I need rest; I feel that the next couple of months were going to be the longest ones.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: thought this would probably be a better way to do the authors notation so you guys wouldn't be confused. The first couple of paragraphs are a flashback to Morgukias childhood, this lets you guys know a little more about my character and allows me to have and excuse for the time lapse**

Chapter 4

I opened my eyes and grabbed my head where I was just assaulted by a dwarf, yelling in pain, "Ow! That really hurt Torvin!" I griped at my combat instructor, Torvin, who had been trying to teach me all week about the "fundamentals of swordplay". Which I'm pretty sure means "this is how you knock the bloody tar out of someone!" The stout dwarf paladin walked over and gave me his hand, "Oh don't be such a wee baby, pick up your stick and let's have another go. Just remember, you need to keep yourself balanced or I'll probably knock you in the head again." Out of all the things a fifteen year old Tiefling would be doing, I bet getting beaten by a dwarf is not one of them. I grabbed the stick and his hand and got ready for round forty-five I believe it was; I don't know what I was doing wrong. I did everything right, I parried and dodged when I needed to and kept an eye on my surroundings but every time it was the same thing; he would knock my sword away when I lunged and he would hit me on the head, which sent me spiraling to the ground.

"Try tumbling behind Torvin and take his feet out from under him," I heard a familiar voice say to me, before I could turn around Torvin tripped me and sent me face first to the ground. But, before I hit the ground I felt a top of a foot keeping my face from touching the floor. It lifted me up the rest of the way I was standing in front of my favorite teacher, Master Kia. "Oh well look who it is, the only man alive that can beat me in a fight. Come to gloat have you? I'll knock that dirty brown badger clean off your face!" said Torvin in a very banter like way, "You don't always have to make fun of my beard just because you can't grow one," he retorted, Torvin started to laugh and Master Kia joined him. Soon the whole room was filled with those two laughing. When they stopped Master Kia turned to me, "I always found that Torvin had trouble changing his footing to block someone from behind, but that is only one of many weaknesses. Yours Morgukia is that you put too much anger into your attack, and not enough control. If you used your strengths instead of your weakness, perhaps you could beat the big mouthed dwarf." I grew frustrated, "What strengths? I'm not good at fighting this is a waste of time." He then approached me and put two fingers on my forehead, "Your strength comes from here," he put two fingers on my heart, "and here, just use them. Begin!" He said as I nearly got smacked upside the head by Torvin right when he said that. So, I did everything again like usual, but instead of lunging at him I got a brilliant idea. I took my tail and wrapped it around his leg and pulled it out of his stance, and as he knelt down to pry my tail off I disarmed and wacked him in the head.

"Ow! That's unnecessary!" he yelled, but broke out into a toothy grin afterwards, so I helped him up and then I was dismissed to have some free time. During my free time; I saw a woman standing in my room. For a second I didn't know who it was, until I saw the tail and horns, "Mother!" I shouted, she turned around and smiled at me and opened her arms. I ran towards her and we embraced each other.

"Son, sit down I have to tell you something," we sat down on my bed and she began her story, "You know how I told you that I will have no more children, and that you were my last one. Well that's true, but I never told you about your older brother. I had him when I was young and at a very "low" point in life. When he was born his father was mortified that he had a Tiefling son and gave him to an orphanage behind my back." She looked very sad, depressed even. I myself was in shock; I never gave it much thought that I had siblings. "His name is Drexel, and when the monks send you to do works in other cities try to find him. He'll be all you have left soon; when your father and I pass away."

After that she left, and then I made it my mission to do so. Every town they sent me to I asked around, but came up short every time. I almost gave up hope, but I couldn't abandon my mother's wishes. I'll find him; even if I have to do it in the afterlife.

…..

A few months had passed, Drakak stayed below deck most of the time because of a fear of drowning or something. All of us that didn't have beards were a little scruffy now, and I had a lot of time to get familiar with my staff. It didn't take too long because of the ki focus with it, so I just spent most of my free time meditating and training my martial arts. Then one day we hear the guy up in the crow's nest yell,

"Ship ahoy! Ship ahoy!" we all thought that it was a friendly trade ship for a second, but then Mythrik noticed something odd about the flag.

"Does that flag have a red skull?" we all leaned over the edge of the ship and saw that indeed it did, Marfedelom's red skull.

"Friends of yours?" said the half-orc captain, he looked like he could take a ballista to the face and he wouldn't even blink.

"Old friends, Bhar go get Drakak. I think we're about to have a fight on our hands." He ran down the stairs and into the crew quarters, I thought I heard Drakak go "Huh!? ONE SE-"*DING*. I was later told that the others had placed a frying pan above his head for when he wakes up. Anyways, Aireon came up and had a brilliant idea,

"We got any oil? Me and the Halfling can go up into the crow's nest and take out their sail with fire arrows. Cut off their way to escape or chase us." I thought about it for a moment with the captain, "Yeah that might work, if they don't see you going up there. They could possibly recognize you." Said the captain.

I knew I could do something about that, "Here, I'll use my powers to cast some mist on us so we have the element of surprise." And then I noticed the ballista, "May we use your ballista captain? We could try and take out the mast so they have no chance against us." He readily agreed and went to prepare his men to board the ship once we disabled it. I used my Elemental Attunement to cast a light mist to block their view. Then, Bodo and Aireon swiftly climbed up to the crow's nest and readied their arrows. By this time Bhar and Drakak had gotten back on the deck with me and Mythrik, and so I revealed the plan to them,

"Okay you three, you're going to help me fire one of the ballistae at that ships mast. As we're doing that; the two rouges are in the crow's nest with fire arrows at the ready. I need you to help me man the ballista and take down there mast so we can board. Any questions?" Drakak's hand shot up, "Can you tie me to the ballista missile?" Why is he such an idiot? I thought; that would be funny to watch though.

"No Drakak, you most likely wouldn't survive the impact," Mythrik said, Drakak and Bhar seemed a little downtrodden but they knew it was for the best.

I chimed back in to avoid any other really bad, but funny ideas, "We only have one shot to hit the mast, a ballista doesn't hit the same place twice. Wait for my signal." By this time the enemy was about one-hundred yards away, so we got into position and waited for them to get closer. They finally got to where we could see their faces; they were utterly confused as to why there was a random "ghost ship" floating around the sea. They were especially surprised when I gave the signal,

"NOW!" I shouted, and thanks to Aireon's new bow there were about twenty arrows flying through the air by the time we set the ballista. With our enemy confused and scared because of their flaming sails, Bhar hit the release on the ballista and sent it hurling through the air. Thanks to our well placed shot the mast shattered at the bottom, like a tree when struck by lightning. I dissipated the mist and the captain's men sprang into action.

"Alright men!" yelled the hardy captain, "Let's go bang some heads together!" all of his men charged up and boarded the ship almost before we could blink. Drakak, Bhar, and Mythrik had gotten there before me though and it looked like they had an easy fight. There was goblin blood soaking the water and deck and goblin body parts strewn about everywhere; some with arrows sticking in them and pinning them to parts of the ship.

"Men, don't let the ship go to waste! Let's salvage what we can before she goes under!" yelled the captain. We all got off the sinking ship and let the sailors do their work; we didn't get much off the goblins we killed so we just helped load and store things.

"How much longer do have before we can get off this bloody boat," said Drakak, who had appeared to have vomited a little over the side of the ship.

"We only have one month left of travel before we get to Rivian; don't worry, you'll live dwarf." said the captain as he patted the dwarf on the back. The next month was just all laughs and merriment. The captain became good friends with all of us and offered us a favor from him if we ever need it.

When we got to Rivian, it was surprisingly big. All you could see for miles was the kingdom and large towers and walls protecting it. We decided not to waste any time and head directly to the castle, where the king lived. When we approached the gate the guard let us in thinking we were just some common tourists, but we told him what we were and why we needed to see the king. He escorted us to the king; the king was sitting on his throne talking to other dignitaries and generals. When he saw us he dismissed them, and the throne room was silent.

"What is your business here?" he asked. "We have traveled from the Monastery of Eberron on the grandmasters wishes. He feels that you are in need of some aid, so is there anything we can do to help?" I asked, he perked up and gave us a grin, "Now why would I need the aid of a few bank robbers in this time of war?" We were stunned; Drakak's crime has crossed seas? What other kingdoms know of this?

"Um sir, some of us are actually innocent." Said Bhar, the king looked at us with a worried expression. "I don't care about your crimes; I'm about to face a war tomorrow and need aid. If you're willing to help I'll reward you." Everyone else liked the sound of that,

"What kind of reward?" asked Drakak.

"One of two choices, one weapon or piece of armor from the royal armory; or something from the treasury. But, we have to win tomorrow or you get nothing." said King Garret.

We accepted the offer, but first everyone needed to improve their weapons and armor. Well, everyone accept me and Bhar; Bhar wanted to go play in the bath tubs and I wanted to talk to the generals about this situation. But, I needed to ask Bodo a favor,

So I asked him in Infernal," Can you use your criminal contacts to find my brother? His name is Drexel, and I don't know if he's alive or not. I would really appreciate it if you did." He agreed to help me and we all went on our way.

When I entered the war room there was multiple generals; some tall and built to destroy, and some who were short and skinny. There was a wide variety of them in size and shape, but they were all humans. So I spoke and asked for the one they take orders from,

"Excuse me, which one of you is in charge? I and a few of my friends were asked by the king to help with this war. I wanted to consult you first though."

One of them looked at me with disgust, "Who let a demon in here?" he said, I was used to people being racist towards me so I just calmly answered,

"Sir, I am a Tiefling. Not a demon and I am here to help." One of the Generals spoke and said,

"I don't see a demon, just a possible ally. Come now, and ask away." Everyone appeared to heed his words, so I spoke.

"How does the battlefront look and how many troops do we have compared to theirs?" I asked

"This looks like an easy fight, they have five-hundred troops and we have two-thousand. Not only do we have that advantage but from what our sources told us their lead general is a coward. Although, we can't assume anything yet." He replied, I dismissed myself afterwards and met up with everyone else in the town. I found everyone coming out of the blacksmiths shop; Bodo came running out the door to greet me in infernal,

"I didn't find him, but I did find his son. He's in the town, just go down the main street and take the third alley on your right; from there you should see a green door. He's in there, so we'll meet you back at our quarters when you're done."

I scurried down the main street and tool the third alley, but only to find that I went left so I rushed the other direction. When I came to the door I got chills; I was about to meet my nephew, and I almost couldn't open the door. I think it was just the uncertainty of it, but I stood there for a few minutes thinking about opening it. Finally, I built up the confidence to open the door; it was a dark room and all that I could make out was a man sitting at a dimly lit area in the middle of the room. When he looked up at me I realized that he was a Tiefling, and he looked really similar to me. But, when I took a step towards him he pulled out a dagger and lunged at me. Before I could react he tackled me to the floor with the dagger to my throat, and I instinctively palmed him in the chest and sent him flying towards the ceiling. He hit his back on the ceiling and came hurling back to the ground; I had enough time to roll out of his path and get up so I could calm him down. When he hit he let out a groan, and rolled over on his back to look at me from the ground,

"Is that how you greet all your family members, nephew?" I asked him

"What? I thought you were my dad, so I attacked you. What do you want?" he said, rubbing his chest where I just assaulted him.

He was young, maybe about sixteen years old and about five feet tall. I gave him a hand and helped him up; he looked like me when I was his age. I decided to explain my situation,

"I'm looking for your father; do you have any idea where he is?" when I asked him this he looked down at the dagger in his hand.

"No, a few years ago he handed me this dagger and said "good luck". I've been following his footsteps; trying to become a master thief and all." He chuckled at that last sentence, and I couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Ok, how about we help each other. I'm traveling around right now so if I find him I'll try to contact you immediately, and you do the same on your end; deal?" I extended my hand hoping he'd shake on the deal, but he hugged me instead,

"Deal, I got to go. I hope we see each other again; in this life or the next."

We both went our separate ways, he went to his people and I was on my way to mine. I found everyone sitting around the room the king provided for us; it was a nice room with six queen size beds and six bathrooms. They seemed to be waiting for my arrival to discuss the quest, so I pulled a chair up to them and began to discuss tomorrow's battle plan,

"Ok, tomorrow the goblins are going to attack with an army of about five hundred and the king will defend with over two-thousand. There are rumors that the underboss leading the army is a coward, so if we overwhelm him we should have the advantage. If he falls, his men will most likely scatter, any questions?"

No one had anything else to input, so we went to sleep. Hopefully we all come out of this intact.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:** I'm thinking about doing a Mass Effect fan fic but I don't know, I'll get this out all the way before I worry about that. Anyways, there's a war to be fought, and a new enemy to encounter.

Chapter 5

When we woke up and put on our gear one of the generals came to our room. He requested that we go to the front lines and lead the charge. After about an hour of traveling to the battlements we finally got to the front line, and we were just in time to see the enemy come to the top of the hill. They were looking at us and shouting insults, and I mean some really rude insults. I heard "Demon" a couple of times, and "midget" but I think that was directed to Bodo or Drakak. The lead general came up next to us; I guess he wanted to lead the front line too.

"Well, are you sons of dogs ready? This fight probably won't last very long." As he finished that sentence, the goblins reinforcements arrived. Now, the fight was two-thousand vs. two-thousand. You could hear the sound of shaking armor behind us, and when we turned around some of the men were fleeing. We didn't know what to do; when all of a sudden I heard the most terrifying war cry ever, and when I turned around I saw Drakak charging straight towards the goblins. The rest of us followed him, even if it was just going be the six of us verses an entire army; too many lives were at stake for us to retreat with the other cowards. When we we're half way there I heard something on my right, and when I looked I saw the old general charging alongside us; he also brought half the army with him. When I checked my left I saw the other half, but when I looked forward to the goblins I saw they we're charging us. We pointed our weapons at an unlucky goblin and destroyed their front line, and chaos ensued.

One Hour Later

"Hey Mythrik, how about a hand!" I yelled towards Mythrik and Aireon who were fighting off four blackblades. I was using my quarter staff to fight three by myself, and I was losing.

"Here!" Bodo yelled, but I couldn't see him.

Then, one of the goblins screamed into the air and fell with a very large gash across his back. I then figured out that he was invisible, but the other ones didn't. They were so frightened by it that they fled deeper into the battlefield, so we turned towards Aireon and Mythrik. But they had already slain the other blackblades.

"Where's Drakak and Bhar?" asked Aireon

We looked around for them but couldn't see them anywhere, but we figured out very quickly. All of a sudden we saw a lightning bolt shoot through a whole squad of goblin cutters, and a loud thunderclap followed and we saw a dozen goblins fly through the air. We pushed through with some other solders and met up with Bhar and Drakak in a small clearing, and that's when we saw him. The underboss was a lot smaller than I thought, but then again I thought he would be huge. He was the size of a goblin blackblade but had significantly more armor than the other ones, and he was carrying a sword that he used to cut down all that came across him. So, we charged him; and then the real battle commenced.

He saw us, except for Bodo who had gone invisible, and charged us too. Mythrik and Drakak were deflected and Aireon's arrow missed its mark, and when I tried to attack him he knocked my staff aside. Bodo's bolt missed just barely but he was still hidden, and Bhar's sword was dodged. He then swiped at Mythrik, and he only barely deflected it; Mythrik however recovered extremely quickly and attacked back at him. He hit the underbosses shoulder with a lunge and damaged him a little, but it must have thrown off his game when Mythrik hit him because we all got hits in. Aireon planted an arrow in his other shoulder and Bodo sneaked up next to him and wounded his leg. Finally, Drakak slammed thunderhammer into his chest and he was tossed backwards about twelve feet. But, when he got up he called five warriors to cover his escape; I noticed him fleeing deeper into the battle and refused to let him get away. Bodo made an entrance for me and I bolted, and when I started to feel winded my ki filled my body with new energy and speed.

The underboss was fast; he stayed about fifty feet in front of my almost the entire time I chased him. While I was trying to catch him, a goblin with a spear tried to trip me; but I reacted with a hurdle right over him and kept running. Shortly after that two blackblades tried to kill me, but I deflected them and knocked them out with a spin of my staff. I finally almost got within ten feet of him, and then I saw what he was heading to. There was a dock on their side of the hill with a ship waiting for him, so if he got to it before we stopped him we would never be able to find him again. So I tried to use every ounce of my energy to catch him, when I heard a familiar voice behind me.

"GO MORGUKIA YOU CAN DO IT!" I turned briefly to see the rest of my companions running behind me.

We got to the docks but were too late; he shot passed the goblin guards who were wielding shields and they closed in on the entrance. With determination fueling me now I charged the goblins. Bad move. They bashed me with their shields like it was nothing and sent me hurling back towards my friends. But, without missing a beat, Mythrik and Drakak sent me flying back to the dock with all their strength; while in the air I prepared to use the rest of my ki for thunderwave. When I started to approach the ground again I struck it with my staff, and willed the rest my ki within me into the staff; the blast was complete devastation and almost sent my friends flying back with the other goblins. I instantly grew exhausted, but Bhar ran by and picked me up by my arm and I continued to run for his ship.

But we were too late; he had boarded his ship and started sailing ahead of us. There was almost no way to catch up to him; that was until the half-orc captain arrived. He was sailing at almost a blinding speed, so fast we almost missed it.

"Get on! Let's go get the Grock!" he yelled from the wheel.

We all had to make a pretty long jump; it was probably ten to fifteen feet away. Although everyone made the jump intact we were too far behind them, and Drakak started to get sea sick again. He grabbed his stomach and ran to the edge of the boat, where he let out a surprised scream. We all ran to him and what we saw was quite shocking, but also mesmerizing. It was a water spirit, or nymph. It looked curiously at us and dived back into the water, and at that same instant the boat shot forward at incredible speeds. We caught back up with the underbosses ship in a matter of minutes, but the nymphs weren't done. As we were getting prepared to board a massive wave came over the ship; sending over fifty goblins over board and killing most that stayed on the ship. Those who survived the nymphs immediately made a protective formation around the underboss that was injured in the wave, but we were able to dispatch them very quickly. We surrounded the underboss ready to execute him, but I had a better idea.

"Let's take him in for interrogation and find out what he knows; it's been a long day so it shouldn't take long."

The Following Morning

When we took him to the royal dungeon, we found out just how much of a coward he really was.

"PLEASE DON'T HURT ME I'LL TELL YOU ANYTHING, ANYTHING!" Mythrik punched him in the gut to quiet him,

"Alright, what is Marfedelom planning? What's his next move?" he questioned

"Please, he never told me much; just that he had shikordian's putting his plans in motion."

Aireon approached, puzzled but intrigued.

"What are those?" he asked

"They're a highly trained unit that specializes in deception. He has three of them, but I only know of one. He's in a kingdom about a three months' worth of travel from here. I've told you all I know please let me go!"

I looked to Drakak and Mythrik, and nodded for them to execute. They nodded back and Mythrik stabbed him in his stomach, and as the goblin started throwing up blood Drakak forced his hammer down on his head. It blew up like a watermelon; just as the king walked in and got covered in his blood.

"Well, other than me having to go change clothes, you have my many thanks and the kingdoms. You may choose one item from my treasury or my royal armory. But please refrain from exploding anymore heads, my staff would very much appreciate it." He said while one of his servants wiped his face of blood.

I didn't really need any weapons or armor, so I just went to the treasury. The master of the treasury was very delighted to have a visitor, so the transaction took a little longer than I needed it to. But it was nice to have a normal conversation with someone that didn't consist of goblins or evil sorcerers. He gave me eight diamonds and I went on my way to meet everyone; they were waiting at the beginning of the road that leads to the next kingdom called Disktock. When I arrived we began our journey, and hopefully we'll put a stop to Marfedelom's plans.

…..

After traveling for three months, helping Mythrik with his dual-wield training, listening to Bodo's stories, and keeping Bhar's stupid ideas in check; we finally got to the kingdom's main road. While we traveled down the road we saw a couple of bounty hunters, and they started walking closer and closer towards us. When they got into earshot they yelled,

"Now don't take another step! We know who you are and we intend on collecting your bounty! Come along quietly and we won't have to kill ya, but dead or alive I don't care." Both of them were lightly armed and even less armored.

"Hey, maybe instead of crushing these fools we should just continue. It's not worth it, and besides we have more important things to do." I whispered to my friends, it would be a shame to spill unnecessary blood.

"Don't worry mister demon man; I got this," said Drakak, "Move aside worms, we don't want to splatter your entrails all over this nice road. Even though it's what I would prefer to do, but mister demon man doesn't want to."

They looked a little worried, but weren't discouraged. "Try it and we'll open you up and play with your intestines." Said the lead one, he had unsheathed his shortsword and pointed it at us. So I decided to chime in,

"Wait, you know who we are right?" I asked him

"Well yeah if I didn't I wouldn't be trying to take a bounty off of you. What's your point?" he said, not sure of what I was trying to point out.

I could see that he was about as oblivious as he was stupid, not only is he trying to fight six very deadly adventurers, but he's also horribly outmatched. We've killed many goblins and even an underboss, and the only thing these two had probably accomplished was stealing a pie off a window. Mythrik saw what I was trying to do so he pitched in, and intimidated them to the point where I was sure they'd start running in terror.

"His point is that if you don't comply the six of us will tear you limb from limb, and stomp you into the ground until there's nothing left to recognize! NOW MOVE!" he yelled, the other cutthroat dropped his blade and tried to pick it back up, but his hands were quivering.

"Yeah, you're aware of what we're capable of so you know that's exactly what will happen. Just get out of the way, and maybe we won't sick the dwarf on you." Said Aireon

They looked at each other and decided to move out of the way, and even though they gave us hateful (and fearful) glances they didn't attack us. We traveled a few more days down the road and finally reached the main gate; the guards let us in without question, so they're either expecting us or don't care what we did. We even got all the way to the King's castle without opposition, and it confused us. I was prepared to start trying to negotiate my way out of this, but turns out I didn't have to. When we got to the king he waved his hand and everyone left, leaving us in a room alone with the king. He stood up and started walking down towards us,

"So, what brings a few wanted criminals to my throne?" he asked, but he didn't seem to be concerned with Drakak's crime.

I approached him and explained the situation,

"We've gained some information from an underboss we defeated at Rivian, he said that Marfedelom sent a Shikordian here for something but we're not sure why. We believe he means to assassinate you or do something else nefarious. Can you help us catch him before his completes his task?"

"Only if you help me complete something first," he said, "I believe there're people conspiring against me, and mean to overthrow me. Three noblemen, Korvo, Alfred, and Corvin; I need you to uncover the traitor or dispose of all three of them. Korvo frequently visits the fight club in the sewers, Alfred stays home and usually doesn't leave, and Corvin has been seen walking around the poorer area and sneaking to the forest. You have three days to complete this, and if you do I'll gladly help you."

Something inside me didn't think this was a good idea, but we didn't have any other options. So we accepted the arrangement and left the building; we decided to discuss the mission over a pint in the tavern. As the barmaid brought us the pint she looked at me confused,

"Aren't you like some monk or something? Why are you drinking?" she asked

"I can drink, but I am forbidden to overindulge in alcohol. There's a difference in drinking and being a drunk, but I don't think the dwarf has figured that out. Bring us another pint before he and Mythrik drink it all." I said, Drakak didn't care for a single word I just said until "Bring us another"

"Ok guys, who's going where?" I asked.

We all sat there discussing where we were going to go for about an hour. Until we all came to an agreement,

"Ok, me and Bodo will follow Corvin to the woods and kill him." Said Aireon

"Try not to kill him if you can; we shouldn't shed blood if there's no reason to. So please try to avoid it." I asked; senseless violence doesn't bother me as much as it should, but I want to avoid it as much as possible.

"I'll go see Alfred and try to use my noble blood to gain an audience. Bhar and Mythrik will go with me disguised as my body guards, and I promise not to rob anymore banks." Drakak said, he was a little sad about the bank robbing thing but he understands the mission at least.

"I'll go to the fight club and try to find out what I can about Korvo, let's meet back here at sundown alright." I said, and we all left to our objectives.

It wasn't hard to find the fight club; they had a man standing above a manhole quietly announcing tonight's fights in the poor district. I went down there and saw a tunnel dimly lit with a few torches, so I started to go down there when an old beggar stopped me.

"You here for the fight? You got to pay the toll sonny, or I can't show you the way." He said

I gave his two gold pieces and his eyes lit up,

"Oh bless you sir! This is way more than needed to entry, go right on ahead."

As I continued down the tunnel the lights got brighter, and so did the yelling. All I could hear was the yelling and shouting of betting men, and there was so many that I couldn't see the fighting. So, I trudged and pushed my way to the front and saw two men beating the tar out of each other; I turned to a man next to me and asked about Korvo,

"Excuse me! Do you know where I can find Korvo?" I asked, well more like yelled; I almost couldn't hear myself think let alone talk.

"You mean the champion? Yeah that's him in the middle winning!"

Just as he said that; the skinnier one of the two men gave an uppercut to the other and sent him falling to the ground like a tree, I almost yelled "Timber!"

"No one else will fight or bet against him! He's undefeated!" the man yelled

Then someone came up, I guess the one that organized the fights, and said

"Is there anyone out there that wants to challenge the champion now?"

Three men came and dragged off the beaten one and Korvo stood there, basking in the glory. That is, until I stepped forward,

"I do."

Total silence, everyone looked at me like I just spit in their pints. I walked in the ring and set my weapons and robes down on a bench, I walked in with only my pants and shoes. And then uproar started; they were calling me a looser and demon, but they started anyways.

"I have a condition for you Korvo, if I win you'll tell me what I want to kn-"he swung at me, but it was almost too easy to block. He had good footwork but he lacked technique, and this made him easy to predict.

"Shut up demon!" he yelled

I struck him in the chest with a palm strike and knocked the wind out of him, and then I tripped him. I gave him a moment to get back up and regain his bearings; I thought he was going for a left hook but he tricked me and elbowed me in the head with his right. That is a mistake I won't make again, so I kicked him in the face after breaking his defense. He staggered back a few feet into the crowd, and when they pushed him forward I noticed that he was dazed.

Excellent, I thought, He's right where I want him, but for a champion he's not that difficult. He tried to punch me, but I quickly countered him and hit him twice in the face with my fist. I then took my tail and tripped him, and as he was on his back he tried to get up; only to meet his face to my fist. He was out, and I heard people yelling out in frustration. I re-equipped my gear and picked Korvo up and put him over my shoulder; I carried him over to a bench and treated him with my medical kit. When he woke up I asked him,

"So, tell me what you know about anyone who is conspiring against the king."

"Who isn't? All the taxes he's putting down on us poor, middle, or rich he doesn't care." He said

"Ok, I'll make you a deal. If I find out who's leading the conspiracy to overthrow him and it's not you I won't kill you. Please don't make me have to do that, I'll see you in a few more days unless I find him."

He understood and we went our separate ways, and I headed back to the tavern to wait for my friends.

Night was almost upon us, and we needed to regroup and discuss further plans; hopefully they listened to me.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I almost forgot about this, and since I already have it finished I might as well finish it up ya know?**

* * *

Chapter 6

"You did what!" I shouted, I was infuriated; and yet that doesn't even explain my rage.

"Shhhh! Keep quiet, we don't want the whole town knowing that we just killed someone and burned their body in the woods." Aireon said in a panicked whisper

He and Bodo had just gotten back from tailing Corvin; they saw him meet with one of the cutthroats that stopped us a few days back. Corvin was displeased with the cutthroat because he was supposed to deal with us, and by deal I mean kill. The cutthroat explained how he didn't want his entrails strewn across the king's road, or his partners. Corvin asked about some information regarding the king; and to these two that seemed like good enough evidence. So Bodo and Aireon thought it would be a good idea to take him out without any real evidence of him being the prime conspirator, and to make matters worse they burned his body. Which means everyone could see the smoke from miles out, so they nearly exposed us and pretty much told the real conspirator "hey we're coming to kill you!"

"We thought we did an ok thing alright, besides we were going to have to kill him in a few days anyways. What did you find out?" said Bodo

I calmed down a little more, and regained my composure,

"I went down there and beat him in the fight club, and he agreed to tell me what he knows. Sadly though he made our list a lot longer; he said that everyone hates the king and that he has been oppressing them. Where are Drakak and Bhar?" I said

Just after that they came in and took seats, and explained what happened on their end,

"We didn't find out much, but he did say that he didn't like king but wouldn't openly speak out against him." Said Bhar

"So, we're not any closer than we were before. What now?" said Mythrik

I thought for a moment, and came up with a brilliant idea.

"Bodo, night mission?" I asked in Infernal

"Hmm, that sounds like a good idea. How about a night mission guys? I go and sneak around Alfred's house and see what I can find out, but what will you guys do?" Bodo said,

"Maybe we should sneak into the king's castle and make sure nothing bad happens? The Shikordian is the one that's most likely leading the conspiracy and could strike at any time." Said Drakak

"I think that's your first good idea Drakak, we should probably move out before it gets any later." Said Aireon, Drakak punched the elf in the arm. He wasn't going to take an insult from an elf,

"Sounds good, everyone move out. Bodo you'll need to go alone so no one slows you down and we can cover more ground at the castle. Let's move people!" I said and we went off.

2 hours later

We had successfully sneaked in and took positions around the castle near the king's chambers, but we couldn't trust any of the guards near us. But during our stakeout they all left suddenly, so we got closer to his chambers just to make sure nothing bad happened. And all of a sudden the silence was broken by a familiar voice, Bodo's,

"Guys, hey!" we couldn't see him for a moment until he took the ring off, and then we all came out of our hiding places and pulled Drakak out of his. We almost didn't find Bhar until he just appeared out of nowhere and scared the life out of us.

"What happened and keep your voice down." Mythrik hushed

"They're both dead, Korvo and Alfred. I watched them for an hour in a half, and I believe they were working together with Corvin to overthrow the king. After they argued for a few minutes and Alfred went to bed, but when I climbed up the outside wall to the second story I saw Alfred sheathe a dagger with some green liquid on it. So I scurried back down only to see that Korvo was gone and all the lights were out, and so I decided to break in and check things out. Downstairs was empty, so I went upstairs to the room I saw Alfred in. But, when I went up there I saw Alfred lying dead on the floor with a wound on his back and a green liquid seeping out of it. I was just about to leave when Korvo jumped out of the closet and tried to kill me, but I put a bolt through his eye." He said in a breathless and fast pace, he must have ran here.

"So our job's done?" said Aireon

"I guess, let's go ahead and tell him while we're here." I said

When we opened his chambers it was dimly lit fireplace, and the king was standing near a very large window staring out into the lights of his kingdom.

"Yes, yes come in please. Did you complete your job?" he said, he seemed a little sad, almost like an old man who knew he was about to die.

Mythrik approached him, "Yes, all three of them are dead. Can you help us now?"

He turned towards Mythrik and put a hand on his shoulder, "Well I can mark off one suspect."

"Who?" said Bhar who was just walking in,

"Me." He said, and in the blink of an eye grabbed Dragonsbane off Mythrik and stabbed himself in the stomach.

"Ha *coughs up blood* you failed to stop my masters plan, fools." And he fell to the floor with the sword in his stomach,

"That bastard, he was the Shikordian all along!" said Mythrik as he pulled his sword out.

As we were about to leave, thirty guards exploded from the door and tackled the closet person to the door; Bhar.

Bodo tried to kill one of them, but his bolt only wedged in his armor.

We were about to be overwhelmed, and our only exit was the window.

"Guys the window now!" I yelled and we all started shooting towards the window, but Bodo was charging towards them.

"No mister Fraggins! We have to go now we can't save him!" yelled Aireon as he grabbed him and hoisted him on his shoulder and we busted out the window.

We fell for about a story and landed pretty rough, but thankfully no one broke anything. The next three days consisted of us fleeing day and night until we escaped the king's hunters, and Bodo probably suffered the worst out of all of us. I know that he and Bhar have been friends for a long time, and having him taken away has mentally and emotionally destroyed him. He doesn't do very much now, he needs help,

"Guys, I need to take Bodo to the monastery. There he'll receive the proper treatment he needs, and maybe after that we can break Bhar out of jail or something. Come visit the monastery soon, but I don't know how he'll be doing then." I said

They all quietly mumbled in agreement and Bodo and I set out. He functioned normally sometimes, but also he would quietly mumble or cry every now and then. I will destroy Marfedelom for this, even if we both have to die for it.

…..

Bodo was mostly quiet the whole journey back to the monastery, and he only responded with sad moans and grunts. When we did finally return to the monastery Bodo's condition worsened, so now he just cries. We had stayed at the monastery for about a week; I had gone around and helped out with some remodeling and repair around the monastery and aided the masters in teaching. While I was telling the children class about my adventure the Grand Master called me to his study, and when I had arrived he was speaking with a frightened farmer,

"Are you sure? I'm sorry to have to ask this sir but have you been on any narcotics or been under the influence of alcohol?" the Grand Master asked.

The man was shaking and had appeared to have run a great distance; his clothes were tattered and worn and his shoes had seen better days. He fumbled with his sentence a few times before finally spitting out what he was trying to say,

"Out in the woods, there's something out in the woods! I was tending my fields when I saw something shining between the trees, but when I went to go check it out the woods exploded with a ray of white light and extremely strong winds. It launched me back quite a distance, and when I regained my baring's a voice boomed out of the forest. 'Tell the monks to bring Morgukia here! I have an urgent message for him!' So I ran as fast as I could here." He said in a fast and trembling voice.

"Me? Are you sure sir?" I asked

"Are you the one he asked for?" he trembled

"Go to the forest Morgukia and make sure this isn't one of Marfedelom's tricks. We don't need a panic starting up because of his sorcery." Commanded the Grand Master

I grabbed my equipment at once and hurried out the monastery to give the Grand Master peace of this current situation, but not without checking on Bodo's condition.

I walked over to the infirmary and knocked on Bodo's door, but no one answered. I was just about to leave when I heard a familiar voice speak from inside the room,

"It's unlocked, go ahead and come in," said Bodo.

I opened the door and walked into the room and saw him sitting in a chair with his back turned to me in front of a window that overlooked the main courtyard. All of his equipment was carefully organized on a desk to his right and his bed looked untouched, so I guessed that he hasn't slept in days.

"Pull up a chair Morgukia, or leave. I don't care," he said

So I pulled a chair next to him and sat down.

"Are you doing alright friend? I know that this hasn-"he interrupted me

"No, you don't. You've never experienced loss before so I don't expect you to understand what I'm going through so don't even give my your 'I know this hasn't been easy' bull crap." He lashed out, and I almost did the same

How ignorant are you! I thought, do you not remember the reason we even met? But instead I tried very hard to calmly answer him,

I put my hand on his shoulder, "Do you not remember how we met? Need I remind you that YOU decided to visit the funeral of one of my greatest teachers of all time? He was practically my only family here for six years while others ridiculed and bullied me, so yes I do understand what you're going through." I said.

"Sorry Morgukia, I'm still trying to deal with this. I should've been taken instead; I owe that much to him." He apologized; I understood why he felt grief for Bhar's imprisonment. The prison that Bhar would be taken to for regicide would be the "Iron Sands Prison" in the Fire Desert, and almost no one gets out alive; and those that do are never the same.

"It's fine Bodo, at least you're actually responsive this visit. If you don't mind me asking; how did you and Bhar become friends? If it's too painful for you to remember I understand, but it might help you if someone knows the whole story between you two." I said, after everything we've been through I've never asked about what they did before we banded together.

"No it's fine; I think you deserve to know anyways. A long time ago I lived in the country in a nice cottage with my family; my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, my wife, and my little girl. We lived there in a perfect endless peace, until it all abruptly ended. One day while I was tending to the fields I saw some light grey smoke rising in the distance, but I didn't think anything of it so I continued onto tilling the field with the family ox. When I finally finished the fields it was sundown, but when I looked towards the plume of smoke this time I saw an enormous column of black smoke. I thought a forest had caught fire for a moment, but when I had looked down the road I saw that it met with the smoke. I thought, but that's where my house is," he started to tear up, "I ran as fast as I could, but I was already too late. I found my cottage being burned to the ground, and I heard my family from the inside screaming. There was a bunch of bandits, all human, surrounding it; they were throwing torches into the fire and barricading the doors and windows so they couldn't escape. I charged one of them, but only to be knocked down and restrained. They forced me to watch as my family burned alive, and they were about to kill me too. They beat me within an inch of my life, and then took me into the woods to finish the job. They were about to kill me when he appeared, a young Dragonborn fighter, Bhar. He killed all of them and took me to safety, and when I came to he stayed by my side even when I perused a life of crime. He's my only family, and now I've lost him too." He started sobbing, so I tried to comfort him

"He's not lost; we will rescue him the first chance we get. Now I have to leave you my friend, the Grand Master has given me a mission and I need to complete it. If you want you may join me; I would like the company." I said, hoping to get him outside for a bit at least.

"No, I'm good," he said

"Just don't stay in here please; it's a beautiful day outside." I requested in Infernal, he just shrugged and looked out the window. So I went out to go find the source of this disturbance.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It took about four hours to get to the farm, and to me everything looked normal. I walked along the edge of the forest for about an hour, still nothing. I walked through the fields and through all the crops, but still found nothing. I even investigated the house, and still came out empty. Since there was nothing around I started leaving the house when I noticed something out the corner of my eye. I turned to the window I thought I saw something, and saw a hooded man in white robes leaning on a tree. When he saw that I had noticed him he ran into the woods and vanished, so I jumped out the window and sprinted for him.

Maybe he saw something, I need to catch up, I thought. I sprinted to the edge of the woods where I saw him, and pulled out my quarter-staff and cautiously scanned and walked through the woods. Only a few minutes of walking and I saw him again, but a little closer. This time I noticed he had gold and silver patterns on his robes and skin. But he vanished deeper into the woods, so I sped up to catch him. I finally thought I had him when I made it to a clearing, but he was nowhere in sight; the only thing here was an altar marked with weird symbols. It stood on a rock about three feet up that was marked with weird marks and letters I didn't recognize, and the altar itself appeared to be a crucifix with the same letters.

I pulled out my note book and wrote down what I saw as best as I could while looking around for the mysterious hooded man, but he was nowhere to be found still. As I was writing the last mark that was on the crucifix; all the letters on my page started to glow. Shortly after that, all the markings on the altar started to glow. I tried to close my notebook but it felt like trying to bend two foot thick steel bar, so I dropped it in front of the altar and backed up. But as I backed up I ran into someone, and my instincts kicked in so I immediately reacted with a spinning back hand. The unknown person countered me with identical precision, and it was the hooded man.

I saw him clearly now; he was my height, and that was the only thing "normal" about it. His face looked like a silhouette so he had no prominent facial features, and his hood had gold horns that went down the back of his head. His robes were silver with gold markings and no sleeves, and he had a four foot long golden tail. His arms we silhouette too, but the strangest thing; he looked exactly like me. My horns and tail and robes looked exactly the same, the only difference was that my robes were red with grey markings. He put his index finger on my forehead and everything around me but him faded to shadow, and it looked as if there were stars all around us.

"We need to talk Morgukia," the hooded man said as he removed his finger from my head.

"Who are you? Where are we?" I asked, ready to strike him if needed

"I am Aikugrom, the angle assigned to your protection. We are in the plane of the astral sea because I cannot take you into my home in the heavens." He said, I was confused,

"What do you mean 'assigned to my protection'? How do I know this isn't one of Marfedelom's tricks?" I asked.

"Marfedelom may be a powerful sorcerer, but he is not as powerful as he thinks he is. You may put down your staff; there is no reason for you to distrust me." He said, I guess he could tell that I was ready to strike him.

"Ok, fine," I lowered my staff, "Why are we here?" I asked

"I will explain; we have been watching you ever since you have been born. Your whole group has their own personal angle watching over them; we were created for that sole purpose." He said

"Then why didn't you help me when I was knocked out by those goblins? Or help Bhar when he was arrested by the guards?" I questioned him

"It takes an enormous amount of energy to appear in your physical realm, but it is less to appear here because it is a lot closer to the heavens. It has taken me weeks to create that altar and lure you there; even saying one sentence in the common tongue in your realm takes lots of energy. Now, let me show you what your friends have been up to." He said

And then the same thing happened when he teleported me here, but this time we were in a pitch black room. He waved his hand and what looked to be a watery substance appeared in the shape of a circle. It then broke off into multiple pieces, and started playing what had appeared to be memories of my friends.

"How is this even possible?" I questioned, I was astounded. This was possibly one of the most incredible things I've ever witnessed in my life time!

"I am allowed to show you these because my master commanded me to, it is through him that I am given my power." He said

I started walking through the bubbles of the memories of my friends, and even though there was no sound I still saw some pretty awesome things.

First, I saw them go and investigate the location of a sphinx. A ranger by the name of Eridan came to them and asked them to look into it. When they finally found her she asked what had appeared to be a set of riddles. And when they answered all her riddles correctly she treated them more friendlily that at first, so I can only assume she became an ally.

Second, I saw them recruit the aid of a half-orc paladin; he was a lawfully moral paladin who put the law above all else. He aided them in answering the sphinx's riddles and completing a monumental task, killing a dragon. After they completed the sphinx's riddles they went back to Eridan, but he had grave news. He told Mythrik about a group of necromancers that served under Marfedelom that traveled to Mythrik's home town and were doing some sort of ritual. When they got there they found the necromancers being protected by some magical shield, and nothing could penetrate it.

While they were trying to destroy the shield, the dead started to rise. Among the dead, Mythrik's parents; he refused to let the others slay them. After they finally defeated the undead the necromancers spell ended, and it was a massacre after that. When they were all finished they were told by Eridan to go to a frozen lake nearby and slay an ice dragon that has been terrorizing locals.

I saw that memory and I pulled it closer to me; I had never seen a dragon before. But I used to read books all the time about them, and ice dragons when they're young aren't the strongest but they are not easy prey. One of the things they like to do is hiding under the ice in frozen lakes and wait for something stupid enough to walk along it, and then they burst out of the ice and eat them.

Unfortunately, my friends were the "something stupid enough". They started walking along the ice when, low and behold, the magnificent young ice dragon bursts out of the ice. But, instead of killing them on the spot they tried to negotiate with it. However, he wanted an insane amount of wealth so they attacked it; Aireon tried to mount the dragon but was thrown off to the side a few yards. The fight started to turn bad quick, and they all almost got killed. That was until a team of rangers came out of a nearby forest and distracted it long enough for Drakak to crush his head into an explosive puddle of blood and bone.

Such a shame to kill such a beautiful creature, but then again it tried to eat them. Shortly after that Drakak created a harp out of the dragon's jaw bone, and he could play surprisingly well. He even entranced a group of bandits that were transferring weapons to a group that were trying to exterminate a tribe of Goliaths. Aireon and the others went through and slayed all of them while they watched this jolly dwarf dance on top of their wagon, and when the leader came out , an orc, he lunged from the top of it and killed him with the harp.

"Oh my, did you see that! He killed him with a harp!" I shouted excitedly to Aikugrom

"Yes, I've seen all of these already." He said in a boring monotone, I guess he doesn't have a sense of humor.

The next memory I saw was them reading a sign that said "Arena Season! Teams or single, see Arena manager for sign up and details!" When they took the sign a she elf approached them, and she seemed distressed. It looks as if she needed them to do something in the arena for her, but I did not know what it was. The memory swirled and showed Mythrik fighting in the arena by himself, and he was doing very well; he was almost never hit and when he did get hit he didn't even stagger. The memory swirled again, but this time it showed what looked like a dugout for the arena fighters, but it was empty. In the background I could see Mythrik fighting a very skilled archer who landed a few hits on him.

"Now, go and help your friends. They will need your aid for the next quest to come." Said Aikugrom, and before I could protest he pushed me from behind and into the memory portal; which was actually a memory playing at that present time. The whole world swirled and dissipated into black.

…..

"Morgukia? Your back! How's everything with Bodo and the monastery?" shouted a familiar voice,

I got up and noticed Mythrik, a very blood covered and dirty Mythrik. He had a few gashes and an arrow sticking out the back of his left calf.

"Oh God your leg!" I shouted, when I noticed the leg it alarmed me. When I was seventeen I was trained to also act as a combat medic, and Mythrik should not be walking around with an arrow in his leg that deep.

"What? Oh that old thing? I was just fighting a pretty damn good archer, but too bad you need arms to use a bow if you catch my drift." He said with a boastful confidence,

"Here, let me patch you up for your next fight; I can tell you all about my recent experience while I work." So I proceeded to patch up his leg and some gashes while telling him about my experience with Aikugrom and the portals. When I was all finished he told me more about their experiences over the past few weeks, and our next move after the arena.

"We got a tip from Eridan to visit a ruin of an old town or something like that. Hopefully there's something there that'll bring us closer to Marfedeloms plot, but for now there are some heads that need to roll!" he shouted as he ran out into the arena, the crowd of what appeared to be dwarves were cheering him on.

I went up to the stands and found Drakak and Aireon sitting at a table, and Drakak was covered in a robe.

"Morgukia hey how's it going? We've just been sitting up here betting on Mythrik and watching him decimate the competition." Aireon said

I told them about Aikugrom and how Bodo was doing, and that I saw everything they did the past few weeks. They explained that the champion of the arena dishonored the she elf and she asked them to avenge her honor by slaying him.

"Hmm, well I think we can count on Mythrik to complete this task, right Drakak?" I asked

"SHHHHHH! I'm a wanted criminal here, this is my home city they want me dead because of my father's sleep coma. So keep it on the down low ok?" Drakak whispered.

"Oh, sorry I'll try to be quieter. But what should we call you in the meantime? I vote for Drak, how about you Aireon?" I said, and yes I was messing with the dwarf just a little.

"Sounds good to me; look there's Mythrik!" shouted Aireon

I ordered some wine and bread and for the next hour we watched as "Mythrik the Slayer" cut through opponent after opponent, and I went down from time to time to provide the medical aid he needed. He killed two twin elven archers, a group of fifteen goblin cutters, and doppelganger who appeared as a little girl at first. The twin elves, after planting a few arrows in Mythrik, found it hard to shoot with their heads rolling on the ground. After that, the cutters seemed to have the advantage in numbers but as we have seen throughout our history that never lasts long, so he stomped a few into the ground and punted some across the arena while cutting down the rest of them. The doppelganger almost had him, they can shape shift into different people, with appearing as a little girl and all. But when she charged she was just knocked from side to side and defeated shortly after.

Then it was time, the championship fight with "The Mountain Hammer". It was a long sparing match for about forty-five minutes until Mythrik finally got the advantage; when the Hammer tried to attack him he disarmed him with two of his swords and had them crossed on his neck. He looked towards the crowd and what looked to be the current ruler of the kingdom, they were all yelling things like "end him!" and "Finish him!" and a few vulgar things I won't mention. The dwarvish king silenced them, and gave him the thumbs down. Mythrik followed through with the execution, severing the top of the mountain from the rest of him, and the undefeatable "Mountain Hammer" was finally vanquished.

After Mythrik was showered in roses and the cheers of his new fans I patched him up and we got portions of the bet and main prize of three-thousand gold pieces split between the four of us. So I got seven-hundred-and-fifty gold for helping Mythrik between rounds. As we were leaving the she elf approached us,

"Thank you for doing what you did. I don't think I could've stepped back in there after what he did. Thanks," she said, and she left. I don't know what that dwarf did to her, but he deserved a worse fate I know that.

…..

We left for the ruined village shortly after to search for whatever it was we needed to find. We decided to look in city hall first, but it was just as ruined and decrepit as the rest of the village. That was until, we went downstairs.

"Ok" I said, "Drakak come downstairs with me, the rest of you keep searching up here for anything of interest."

"Can I smash all the furniture?" asked Drakak

"*sigh* Fine, but if any of it looks important don't smash it ok?" I asked as simple as I could

"Ok." He said sadly, I wish he'd go one day without breaking something.

We searched for about half an hour but came up with nothing, but then I noticed something on the wall adjacent to the entrance to the basement. The wall had a giant gash on it, and appeared to have a lighter shade than the other walls.

"Drakak look at that wall! Check it for anything that could lead us to a door or something." I exclaimed to him, and he went right to work.

Aireon and Mythrik came down shortly after that, and noticed the wall before I could tell them about it.

"Morgukia look at the floor; there's scratch marks along the floor. I think this wall is actually a door, so start searching for a handle." Aireon said as he was walking down the stairs.

I looked on the floor and noticed he was right, so we all started checking around the crack and the edges. Mythrik leaned up against a part of the wall and it shifted, startling him and making him fall to the ground.

"Whoa! Drakak help me push right here." He yelled as he was on the floor.

Drakak pulled Mythrik up and then they started pushing the right side of the wall. I seemed to look like they were just pushing up against a normal wall, and so they started to just give up. Out of frustration Drakak punched a brick on the wall and it indented into it like he just pushed a button, and then we started to hear what seemed to sound like locks unlocking and gears starting to work and turn. Then, the left side of the wall popped open on our side and the right side of the wall did the opposite.

"Ok, maybe we should start pushing now. Demon man, you and elf pull on your side." Said Drakak, and I'm pretty sure he knows my name but he likes calling me "demon".

Aireon and I started pulling while the others were pushing with all their might. Instead of just sitting there, like a wall, it started to slowly revolve. When we finally opened it enough we entered, but it wasn't a room. It seemed to lead to an incredibly deep and dark staircase, so those of us with a natural night vision (like Tiefling, Dwarves, and Elves) could see almost to the very bottom. But Mythrik couldn't so he pulled out a torch, so he was kind of the odd one out in the group for now.

But something felt, off I guess as we were walking down the stairs. I started to feel a buzzing in the back of my head, and that progressed to a buzzing feeling in my fingers.

"Uhh guys?" I said, but as the words left my mouth it felt like I was talking in slow-motion.

They kept walking, or at least I thought they were. My vision started getting distorted, and it only got worse as it progressed. I tried to reach out in front of me towards Aireon, but my hand seemed to dissolve straight though him. It shocked me and in my startled panic I fell off the stairs, and the last thing I saw was the spiral of the stair spinning me into a quiet darkness.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I let out a groan and opened my eyes, but I opened them too quickly. The dim light of the room was enough to flood my senses and give me a nasty head ace, so I grabbed the top of my horns as a first reaction to the pain.

Reminds me of the time Torvin took me to my first tavern. The following day was the absolute worst day of my life; I almost didn't leave my room because of a hangover. I thought, and then I decided it would be best to go into survival mode.

I opened my eyes again, slowly, and surveyed the room. There was just one, iddy bitty problem; no door anywhere. It was chilly too, but an unnatural chilly; I stood up to feel along the walls to find something to help me escape. It was a regular sized room with enough space for a bed, maybe a bookshelf, and a desk. But it was empty with nothing but a dark, cold shadow. I was still feeling the wall when I heard,

"So it's you, the favorite one. Tell me something; did our dear mother put you in an orphanage because she didn't love you?" said a voice behind me

Somehow I knew who was behind me, but I still turned around hoping to expect someone else. When I turned around I saw a Tiefling; he looked a little older than me but he looked almost the same as me and I'm pretty sure we're family. The horns, my horns curved over my head and formed a helmet of some sorts, and he had the exact same set as me. He looked thuggish though; he wore black leather armor with his hood down and an assortment of tools on his belt.

"Are you Drexel?" I asked

"Yeah, so you didn't answer my question runt. Did our mother abandon you in an orphanage too? Doesn't surprise me, that whore could barely keep herself alive let alone another child." He said

That infuriated me, and I almost went at him. But I used all my will power not to hit him, and replied with my teeth grit.

"It was your dead beat of a father that abandoned you, you foolish coward! How dare you even attempt to blame out mother, who mourned heavily after you left, do you not remember how much she loved you? She told me to find you, no, she made me promise to find you; but I haven't yet. All I've found is a shriveled husk of what could have been my brother." I said; my hands and voice shaking.

His expression turned sad; almost like he hated himself for the words he just said.

"I'm sorry I don't know what came over me, so how is she doing?" he asked

My anger started to subside," She's fine now, but her age has been catching up to her the past few years." I said, he walked within arm's reach of me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Good, I'm sorry I wasn't there to watch you grow. But, as it turns out I guess you didn't need me after all. See you around; little brother." As he finished his sentence he dissipated into black sand that faded into the floor.

I started to tear up and I could feel my stomach start to knot up, but then I heard something behind me. On instinct I spun around into a defensive stance with my staff, but it was only a door that had appeared from what appeared to be the black sand that was once my brother. I wiped my face off and took a second to regain my composure, and then I cautiously exited the door. When I left it I saw everyone else, but they looked as if they saw ghosts. Aireon had a shocked look on his face and Mythrik looked like a sad puppy, but I think Drakak had it worse out of all of us. He was in tears,

"Drakak what happened?" I asked him, and then I ran over to comfort him. But his response was; well I guess the only way to describe it is sad.

"*sniffles* Dad… angry*whines and cries* Drakak s-smash… Dad grab ham-hammer*lets out loud cry* he s-s-said he lov-love me!" he just broke after that, and then Aireon spoke,

"I saw my parents, but separately. First it was my father; he blamed me for what happened to him so I shot an arrow in his face. But he dissipated into black sand and then my mother appeared, but I don't want to talk about it. After that a door appeared." He said

"You saw your parents too?" Mythrik said, "My dad blamed me for his death, but I told him I was too young to defend him. After that my mother appeared, and she said she always loved me and thanked me for what I did at the graveyard."

Then they looked at me, wanting my side of what happened.

"I saw my brother, and he hated me at first. Called me "the favorite" and insulted my mother, but when I told him off and said it was his father's fault he calmed down and acted kind of wishful. Wishful that he was there to watch me grow up," I started to tear up again so I stopped.

After a few minutes we decided to continue on, and we found a hallway into what appeared to look like a large cistern. The cistern was full of some strange black liquid, and it had four mage statues that stood three times as tall as a normal human. They had their arms out like they were rising something; something out of the black liquid. I turned away to survey the room for a second and heard a splash, and when I quickly turned around I saw Drakak playing in the ankle deep water.

"Get out of that you don't know what it is!" I shouted.

He sulked as he got out of the water, but then it started to shimmer and ripple in a very odd way. We all got around it and looked into the water, and we saw an image start to form. When the image finally stilled we saw a man standing on a balcony with a large fireplace, but he looked tremendously familiar. And then Mythrik spoke up with pure hate in his words,

"Marfedelom" he said

I almost couldn't believe what was going on, and then the fire behind him grew and some two headed figure appeared.

Its right head spoke, malice and evil were etched in his deep, dark voice,

"For the last time Marfedelom, I will not destroy the Monastery. I have other things to set my mind to right now."

Marfedelom turned around, his eyes a bright red,

"My forces grow impatient master, and so do I. You can put aside you petty rivalries for a time; if you help me destroy the monks we can increase your power. And if I can take the grandmaster alive; there's no telling what kind of possibilities would be available to us. I can be very persuasive, and his strength will break under my "persuasion"." He said that last part with a smile, and I almost punched the water.

"He has a point, if we control this world we will exceed the power of our rivals and we will become the most powerful-"the left head spoke with the same evil.

"No! If we show our strength now we will not have the advantage in the future." The right one rebutted

"And they will fear us! If you sit back and wait nothing will change, so let me attack. I will bring you more power and more souls to fight your wars, just let me attack." Marfedelom yelled; the room shaking as he did.

The two heads (they looked like baboons) started whispering, and argued at the same time.

"Very well Marfedelom, but know this. If you fail, it will be your last mistake ever. Do you understand?" the right head said, Marfedelom kneeled.

"Yes, Demogorgon," he said and the fire went down. A heavily armored goblin approached him.

"Send the Evistros. Also take a white dragon with you so that you do not have to fight." Demogorgon said

"Very well, I have another important matter to attend to." He turns to a scribe that's in the corner of the room," Add more demons to the list to make things interesting, they've been bored for quite some time." Marfedelom said.

Then the water started to shift, and I started to panic.

"We have to leave to the monastery now!" I said

Aireon grabbed me, "Wait there's more starting to show!" he said. I looked back at the water and it showed a big paladin looking solder with white-silver armor. "They're ready for you sir." A scribe said through a door. He sighed and got up from his chair and pushed the huge doors open with ease. The room was filled with what looked like kings and other great warriors of every race, including vampires. The King of Rivian was among them, and also an angel.

"Now," the paladin looking solder said in a very deep yet comforting voice, "I have gathered you here because of a new threat, Marfedelom. He is mobilizing troops near the Monastery of Eberron, so we need to organize an army of elite warriors over there before they destroy it and burn it to the ground. If the monastery burns Marfedelom will move to the surrounding cities and kingdoms, and by then it will be too late. Does everyone agree?" he asked them. After they all mumbled back and forth to each other they all came to an agreement, they would send the necessary troops.

"Good, now onto a more controversial topic. Morgukia, Mythrik, Drakak, Aireon, Bodo, Bhar, and Cruven; and having them absolved of their crimes." He said. And then the entire counsel was in uproar; half of them with him and half against him. Then the angel stood up out of his chair and struck the table,

"Silence!" he bellowed, "They are the only ones that have been trying to fight Marfedelom relentlessly that aren't angels! Yes what Drakak did will not go unpunished, but that can wait until his strength is not needed anymore. Those adventurers might be our only hope in defeating Marfedelom, so we have to absolve if not postpone the trial for their crimes. All in favor of at least postponing the trial say aye." Everyone gave out a half-hearted aye and then the black water of the cistern turned back into its original form.

"Ok we can go now," said Aireon, and then we were off to the monastery as fast as we possibly could, after we found the super long stairs and had to climb it. There must have been ten-thousand steps, or more.

...

We rented a fast carriage and traveled east to the monastery; the trip took a day in a half but we still made it there. However, when we did arrive everything was normal; no zombies or goblins or demons. So we decided to head on inside and check on the Grand Master and Bodo; when we were inside the whole monastery was a busy hub of preparation. There were solders and monks' running back and forth stocking weapons, munitions, and artillery. The Grand Master was in the center of the courtyard directing most of the traffic, so we swam through a sea of bodies and finally reached him.

"Master," I said with a bow, and he greeted me with one.

"Morgukia, I am blessed to see you return safely! We're about to start moving troops to their lines for the battle. It would help greatly if you stay here and guard the courtyard from anything while we evacuate any non-combatants; oh and Bodo left this for you. He left a few weeks ago in the cover of night, and only left this letter in the chair he used to sit in."

He handed me the letter so I opened it and began to read it out loud.

"Dear Friends,

By the time you read this letter I will be gone, but not forever. I decided that sitting around sulking and crying over my friend would get me nothing but more sadness. So, I am going to Bhar's tribe to rally them into saving him from that hellish prison. I will find a place to meet all of you sooner or later; in this world or the next.

Godspeed, Bodo Fraggins"

As I finished that last word, five Evistros appeared and started to set fire to the ground around us. Evistros are small demons that attack in groups and destroy everything around them. By the time we closed in on them I noticed that they weren't touching anything else around them; almost like they only wanted to kill us instead of the others. We were surrounded by a large ring of fire, and then I heard someone yell from outside it.

"They're here! Everyone man your stations and start marching your troops! TO VICTORY!"

The war has now begun…


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Feisty little runts aren't they!" Drakak said as we were staring the demons down. They didn't attack at once yet, but I refused to let my guard down even a little bit. This was my first demon encounter, so I knew I had to take this very seriously.

"Ok guys, should we charge in or split on the flanks and separate them as much as possible?" I asked everyone else,

"I'll stay back and shoot them with my bow; you guys should try to take them out up close." Aireon said as he was notching and arrow

"Alright, shall we?" said Mythrik

Drakak didn't even give any second thought and charged in head on against the demons, so Mythrik and I followed. I approached an Evistro, and boy was that all it took to almost make me lose my lunch. They were about the size of a dwarf, and they are red, bald, had black eyes and three unnecessarily sized claws on each hand. I spun my staff around and hit it directly in the left temple; which usually kills people. But it reacted with a swipe of its claw into my right leg, but only barely grazed it. Another Evistro joined his friend, but Drakak firmly planted a hammer into his face.

"We might need a few extra hands here! These damn things are tough!" Drakak shouted, after he finished speaking an Evistro came up from behind him and put a small gash in his back. Aireon saw he was in distress so he shot two arrows into the demon, but he didn't go down. Mythrik sparred with one for a bit while this was going on, and then he cut him down half his original size. Mythrik started to run our direction when Drakak and I started getting clawed and bit in all directions.

"Drakak," I said while blocking a claw attack from the demon in front of Drakak, "I need to do thunderwave!" I shouted while trying to get the Evistro in front of me to get my staff out of his mouth.

"Feel free to- OW! Why you-," one of the Evistro bit him on his left shoulder and was currently hanging there, "Go right on ahead while I knock this one's lights out!" he said,

"Need a hand? Here's a sword!" shouted Mythrik, he pulled off the Evistro and gave him a gash on his chest, but he didn't go down.

"Well, it might turn you deaf are you sure?" I asked him, these things might be small but they are insanely difficult to fight against.

"I don't care do something we're being overrun!" he shouted

So I did what I always do, and willed the power of thunder throughout my entire body and through my staff. I saw two of the Evistros fly through the air, along with Drakak.

"Drakak!" Mythrik yelled, "Morgukia go help him before he's overrun by those things!"

I looked towards Drakak and saw two more demons come into the Frey, and before I could get there the two demons I sent sprawling through the air got up. One came after me and the other towards Drakak, so I needed to go through that one before I could save Drakak.

"I could use some help!" Drakak screamed, I think he was suffering a hearing loss because he was shouting like, well, like he was deaf.

"Morgukia, get over there he's gonna get overrun!" Mythrik yelled again while fighting one of the demons.

I looked over the demons shoulder and saw Drakak flailing his hammer around trying to defend himself against the horde of Evistros, so I fought with all my will to get past the demon in front of me. He wasn't prepared for the flurry of attacks I sent his way, and I eventually knocked him aside and out of the fire circle altogether. So I started running towards Drakak; he smacked a demon in the head but another crept up behind him.

"Drakak behind you!" I yelled while sprinting towards him.

He was still unresponsive, and the demon behind him slashed down his back with both claws. He reared up in pain and dropped his hammer on the ground, and then he instinctively grabbed his back from the pain. After that he tumbled to the ground on his stomach and they swarmed him, I started to fear for my friend's life more than I ever had before.

"DRAKAK NO; COME ON WE NEED TO SAVE HIM!" Mythrik yelled as he cut down the demon he was battling.

I sprinted over there as fast as possible, but it was too late. Drakak was now an eviscerated corpse lying at the feet of three Evistros, and I almost couldn't believe my eyes. However, my disbelief and grief quickly turned into rage and fury. I instantly turned into a whirlwind with my staff, and Mythrik became the thundering strike of a hurricane with his swords, and Aireon was the piercing hail from an ice storm. The Evistros were reduced to three broken, dismembered corpses.

Mythrik went over Drakak's body and held what was left in his arms; the last true family he had left has now been taken by Marfedelom too. He started to weep, and then the fire circle disappeared. The archangel from the vison was standing right outside it with six other angels, and after looking at the other angels closely they seemed to look like or resemble one member of the whole group. I saw Aikugrom among the others, and even a dwarf that looked like Drakak. But they didn't have faces, just gold or silver hoods you couldn't see into.

"Do not weep for your friend Mythrik, for he is not done yet," the archangel said. He then put his hand over Drakak and a type of light started to fall from his hand into Drakak; it looked like the ash of a campfire as it was falling to the ground. They eventually covered Drakak in a cocoon of light, and then dissipated. Drakak was whole again, but alive I could not say.

"Drakak? Are you alive? WAKE UP!" Mythrik smacked the dwarf across the face, and the previously dead dwarf responded with a check across Mythrik's jaw.

"BY ODIN'S BEARD, WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" he shouted as he got back up from the ground. "I was enjoying me a nice nap, and having good dreams too. I saw me mother and she prepared a whole table of food and ale; it was awesome." He said lifting Mythrik up from the ground.

"You were dead master dwarf, and the archangel saved you from the clutches of dinok (death)." I told Drakak, he got a shocked look on his face from the sudden realization that he was almost gone; but he just shrugged and grabbed his hammer.

"Stand fast men; a dragon is headed here and I have to direct my forces to the main battle. I need you to handle it; kill it or deal with it I don't care how you get it done just do it! Here before we go I will restore your energy" the archangel said, he then waved his hand and I could feel my strength return with extra resilience. After that he and the other angels flew off.

We watched as they flew away, and then we saw some commotion coming from the Cliffside behind the monastery, so we gathered our equipment and charged over there. We saw a young white dragon devouring a squad of solders, and when he saw us he seemed to recognize us.

"Ahh, the troz(thorn) in Marfedelom's side; tell me, are you really going to win kein(wage war) against Marfedelom? You have no buriis(hope) of defeating him, but anyways let's talk business hmm?" the dragon said

"Well what do you want snake?" Aireon said

"Two-hundred diamonds, and no less!" he shouted with a sinister chuckle, as if we couldn't afford his price.

"I have a counter offer dragon; one that is very beneficial for all our sakes." I said to the dragon, and shot Mythrik a look that said waste him.

"Oh you do now? Well let's hear it shall we?" he said as he menacingly strode closer to us, lightly hissing on his way.

"Your head, on a pike!" Mythrik shouted, we all charged the dragon.

Mythrik sliced up the side of its face and Drakak ran up and smashed the side of his ribcage and made the dragon howl in pain. Aireon stabbed at it with a halberd I've never noticed before, and then I smacked his face around with my staff. He reared up with a breathe attack ready, but I stood firm. He blew stinging ice at us, and launched Drakak and Mythrik backwards. They got right back up, covered in frost, and charged him again.

Drakak uppercut him with his hammer, but when Mythrik went to strike him across the face he nearly missed him and almost turned into a dragon chew toy. The dragon then swiped at all of us with his claw, but only managed to hit Drakak.

"Morgukia, I have a plan!" Drakak yelled while dodging the dragon,

"Go ahead I'm listening, but make it- crap," I shouted back, the dragon blew frost all over us again and sent me backwards this time.

"If you can get close enough put your staff on its head I'll hammer it in like a nail!" he yelled back, this was actually his first good idea.

"Alright, were doing it your way this time! Mythrik, Aireon, get me close!" I shouted to my companions.

Mythrik and Aireon started to distract and attack the dragon while Drakak and I got close. They were hitting it and insulting it until we got right were we needed to be, and then we stuck.

"Now Morgukia; we need to do it now!" Drakak yelled,

Mythrik stuck his sword through its jaw to pin it to the ground while Aireon stabbed it in the neck to keep it still, and I ran towards it and used my staff to propel me in the air above it. I jammed it down as hard as I could on the top of his head, and Drakak came up from behind me and struck down on the end of it like a nail. He did that with such force it went straight through its skull and into the ground. The dragon squirmed around a bit after, but it finally died the rest of the way shortly after.

"Well, that was immensely awesome. Let's get Morgukia's staff out of the skull so we can continue on." Mythrik said, and after quite some pulling we released my staff.

"Look! Over there in the main battlefield!" Aireon shouted

We looked across the battlefield and saw something completely astonishing, but horrible. The heavens opened up and light poured from the sky, and then a legion of thousands of angels flooded out of it. But, at that same exact moment, a legion of demons flew up towards them to meet them in a glorious battle between heaven and hell; with the earth as their warzone. When they met in the air a supernova event happened and it decimated both sides, and no angel or demon survived the event. The archangel appeared behind us and spoke,

"Good, you all survived. Now we need to re-group our forces and I need to muster up more angels. It was good fighting alongside you," and he flew away.

We went back inside the monastery and were greeted by the Grand Master; instead of directing troops he was directing healers and medics.

"You are still alive and well; you not only match but exceed my expectations. All of you do. Without your help the monastery would be ablaze, and many men would have been slain by the dragon. You saved countless lives, but now we ne-"we were interrupted by a gust of wind so fierce that it knocked us all to the ground.

We got up and turned around a saw a large red dragon; with Marfedelom riding him. He clapped slowly, mockingly, at us

"Bravo gentlemen, bravo. Seriously though that was a very great display, the dragon's death was actually my favorite part. Right under Drakak's death, but anyways I can't stay long I just wanted to drop something off for your master; a crown!" and then he pointed his hand towards my master and a dim gold crown appeared upon his head, and he stood motionless and quiet. "Well, good day gentlemen, time to go," and he flew off.

"That coward, he should have fought us!" Mythrik yelled as he left, but I had my attention turned towards my master.

"Master? Hello, are you okay?" I asked him, his eyes widened and he grabbed me by the throat and took me to the ground.

His eyes didn't look the same; they were darker. I couldn't breathe and my attempts at resistance were useless. If it were not for Drakak my neck would probably be broken, and he would've attacked someone else. Drakak had run up and hit him in the back of the head and knocked him unconscious, and then we tied him up as fast as we could.

"What the bloody hell was that? He just snapped!" Drakak exclaimed

"Crown of madness, it's a spell that turns control of the victim to the spell caster." Said someone behind us, and when we turned around we saw the paladin from the black water vision.

"It's you, we saw you in a vision where you rallied the other kingdoms and the angels to fight for us." Mythrik said

"Yes that was me, but how you know that is oblivious to me. But there is something more important to attend to right now; Drakak, Marfedelom has attacked your home city and plans on destroying it. We need to leave now, let's take my dragon!" he shouted, he then blew a dragon shaped whistle and a large blue dragon landed and we proceeded to climb aboard.

"I'm sick of dragons today," Mythrik said


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The ride back to the dwarven city took about an hour, and we were shocked at how the city looked. There were battles happening all over the city, and fires too. We touched down on a clear spot but the paladin flew off to defend the front line; wherever that was. We fought our way through a few goblins and demons until we found a squad of dwarves fighting in a defensive position. Drakak yelled at them in dwarvish and they responded,

"Ok lads, there's fighting all over the place but they want us to be in front of the castle's keep to defend it. They said a few other adventurers and a group of rangers led by Eridan are over there now. Let's move!" he barked

So we shot over there as fast as we could while killing goblins left and right. When we finally got there it was chaos, it seemed that the goblins outnumbered the rangers three to one. We decided to partner up and go back to back, but because of the confusion I didn't see who I was partnered up with.

"Ok listen to me," said a strange voice that was backed up on me; the goblins surrounded us and were taunting us by moving closer and closer," They are about to attack us so I need you to be ready ok? Don't flinch or show any fear when you're striking them and it'll be like cutting through butter understand?"

"Yes, who are you?" I asked the stranger,

"You'll see soon enough. Now Morgukia, now!" he shouted, and as he did that the goblins charged.

I tuned into a tornado with my staff; knocking the goblins to and fro all around me. As we were decimating the goblins I saw fragments of the person I was fighting with. I saw black leather armor and a shortsword with frost falling off of it, but I also noticed something very strange. In the midst of the fighting I saw a tail, but I stayed focused on the task at hand. Then all of a sudden, I saw the biggest dwarf I had ever seen. He looked like a heavily armored fighter with a shield and a double sided war axe, and he also had what seemed to be a crown. He charged through goblins with such force it was like seeing a rhino charge through dead trees.

"Father!" I heard Drakak yell,

"Aye, it's me you dimwitted doofus. Now let's destroy all the goblins!" He said, and I noticed a dwarvish looking angel flying out of the keep. After that, Drakak and his father seemed to be in a competition on who was the better fighter.

I almost didn't notice but all the goblins around me and the mystery person were dead or retreating. So I decided to learn the identity of the stranger that helped me, but when I turned around I was at a loss of words. He was a Tiefling, we had the same horns and the same tail length, but he had what seemed to be a permanent devilish smile so I assumed he was a rouge.

"Now listen, I'm-"I punched him in the face, I didn't mean to but it just kinda happened. I guess it was about the apparition with the black sand, but when I noticed what happened I picked him back up.

"Sorry Drexel that wasn't entirely your fault; I'll tell you about it afterwards. Right now we need to go and help defend the rest of the kingdom as best as we can." I said, he nodded in agreement and we regrouped with everyone else.

We found the rest of the group in the courtyard of the keep, and Drakak and his dad were bonding; I think.

"I think you were a few short of my record; I killed sixty of them in that one go," Drakak's dad said, trying to prove his dominance over his son.

"Nuh uh! I killed more than you to burly mountain goat!" Drakak said, but his dad pushed his face and then they started wrestling on the ground. But, Drakak's dad won by pinning him to the ground; after that he picked up his son and hugged him. And then they did some head-butt thing dwarves do sometimes, but I never understand why.

"How are you awake dad?" Drakak asked

"I was awoken by an angel, he resembled you in a number of ways but he wasn't as dumb. He told me you were about to be endangered and I needed to aid you, so he pulled me out of my sleep and there I was. Trampling goblins and demons left and right; all by your side." He said to Drakak, they embraced again.

"Ok men, now that everyone has been reunited we need to focus on the battle. My rangers reported seeing Marfedelom and his dragon flying around somewhere, so we need to find them and take them down." Eridan said, so we were about to leave and go looking when an intense gust of wind knocked us forward.

"Well, you won't have to look very far. Time to end this once and for all!" a sinister voice said from behind us, we all shot back up only to see Marfedelom and his dragon landing right behind us. "Time for supper old boy, there's a few new flavors but I think you'll remember Mythrik's," he said with an evil smile.

We all charged the dragon; Aireon took out his halberd and sliced down its side, but it only glanced of its scales. Mythrik was a little more successful; he took his father's sword and his own and stabbed one in its face and sliced it across the jaw with the other. I ran up and attacked a few pressure points, but then again I don't know anything about dragon anatomy. So I think I managed to hurt it a little bit, and then Drakak came flying out of the air and smashed down on its head with the hammer. Marfedelom almost fell off the dragon entirely, but now he attacked.

Marfedelom's large red dragon spewed fire everywhere, and launched back everyone but me and Mythrik. So, we attacked together, I gave the dragon an uppercut and Mythrik gave him a good slice on the bottom of his jaw. Then I saw my brother and Eridan running towards him; Eridan slid on the ground towards the dragon and Drexel jumped of his shoulder. When Eridan came to a stop he threw down some arrows and they would shoot up off the ground periodically and kill a demon or goblin, and then he fired an arrow that magically split into eleven and hit the dragon. Drexel landed on the back of the dragon and stabbed it, but was knocked off by its tail.

I was running over to help him up when the dragon's claw knocked me off my feet. If I did not have the reflexes I have I would be eating the dirt, but I tumbled and landed on my hands and knees; so I shot back up and helped Drexel. I looked back and saw Aireon stab the front left arm of the dragon and Drakak's dad hit the other, and the dragon stood on its hind legs and blew more fire down on them. The dragon stood to be two-and-a-half stories tall, but this didn't stop Drakak from running up from behind the dragon and hitting it in the back of the leg. And just like a tall building crumbling to the ground; the dragon fell backwards, and Marfedelom fell off on the dragon's way down. Mythrik ran over to its flailing body and stuck his sword deep into its belly, and proceeded to gut the dragon from neck to tail. I ran over there and attacked the dragon's face; I was punching and smacking it around with my staff until Mythrik got to the end.

Marfedelom's pet, was no more. Mythrik, with his bloodied sword and armor, knelt down next to the evirated corpse of the murderer of his family and friends. I'm not sure if he was glad, or mortified with what he had just done; I know dragons are sometimes cruel and greedy beasts, but they have a type of beautiful freedom we will never achieve. But I did not dwell on it; there was Marfedelom to deal with now. Everyone except for Mythrik surrounded him, and we're ready to deliver him to his maker.

"It's over Marfedelom; time to end this." I said, my staff pointed directly at his chest.

"No, it's just now beginning." He hit his staff to the ground and a smaller thunderwave erupted out of it. But, we were so close it launched us all backwards; Drakak's dad, Eridan, and Drexel were knocked unconscious by it.

"Now, the final battle, LETS FINISH THIS!" he shouted, the ground shaking as he did.

Aireon knelt up and started to fire arrows at him, and he landed a few but they didn't do much. Drakak ran up to him and gut checked him with the butt of his hammer, and then I ran up to attack. I went to strike him with my staff, but his skills almost matched mine; almost. When I attacked him he blocked every attack I made; except one. He pinned my staff to the ground and mockingly chuckled at me, and then I head-butted him with my horns and he went spiraling backwards. Aireon had ran over to meet us and Drakak was on the other side of me, and then Marfedelom shot out a blast of energy that split into three separate ones. Two hit Drakak and Aireon, but the one coming at me felt different. Time slowed, and I could feel its energy; so I put my hand out to stop it out of instinct. When it met with my hand it stopped; only inches from touching and it exploded. However, it didn't even damage me; when it cleared Marfedelom was shocked and I pressed my attack.

He tried to stop me with his thunderwave staff, but it did little but flinch me.

"My turn," I said, and with most of the power I had and exploded in a fierce and awesome thunder! Sending Marfedelom flying backwards and skidding across the ground, and when he stumbled back to his feet he let out a frustrated cry.

"You can't best me! I am more powerful than you could even imagine!" he then pointed his staff at Drakak and the Crown of Madness appeared and donned its self on Drakak.

I could see him trying to fight it but it was useless, and he charged me. But when I tried to move and defend myself vines grew around my legs. However, when Drakak tried to attack me he missed, four times. So he started to run towards Mythrik,

"Mythrik look out, Drakak has the crown on him! Detain him!" I yelled over to him, he looked behind him and tackled Drakak down.

Aireon got up and shot two arrows at Marfedelom, but he missed. So he shot back with another blast of energy, but Aireon hurdled over it. I attempted to loosen the vines that were restraining me, but they just grew back.

"Break his concentration Morgukia" I heard Aikugrom say in my head, so I looked around for anything I could throw. I grabbed a dart from my pouch and threw it at him, but he deflected it with ease.

"Mythrik, tie up Drakak and help me break Marfedelom's concentration! It will release me and Drakak from his magic!" I yelled at Mythrik, he was ahead of me with the tying up Drakak part, but then he started running over to me to help.

"You got any suggestions?!" he shouted

"I don't know just throw something!" I shouted while deflecting another energy blast, all of a sudden I saw a silvered sword pass my ear like a javelin.

The hilt of the sword hit Marfedelom square in the eyes, and he fell to the ground in pain. When he got up his eyes went from a dark green to boiling red with anger and he had an are-you-serious-right-now expression. The vines around me died and I easily walked through them and then charged at Marfedelom. He stood there waiting for me, and then he struck the ground with his staff. But it wasn't an empowering strike like he did with thunderwave, it was a soft tap. And then as I was getting within ten feet of him the area around me vanished; vanished into a cold and quiet darkness.

He had used a darkness spell to cover him, so I couldn't see two feet in front of me. I put my staff to the ground like a blind man's cane and started to shuffle my way in the darkness. All of a sudden I felt an arrow whistle past my ear, and so I instinctively crouched down to avoid getting my head taken off by an arrow.

"Morgukia? Are you there?" I heard what appeared to be Aireon's voice calling from somewhere behind me.

Before I could say anything my staff hit something, and when I reached out for it I felt a skull. I knew what it was, so right when I tried to attack Marfedelom he used thunderwave again. However, I was not prepared for it this time. I launched back out of the darkness and hit what I think was Drakak, and saw Aireon flying backwards too.

"Holy hell lad, be careful next time! Is he in there or what?" Drakak shouted while pushing me off of him.

"Yeah, he's in there all right. Where's Aireon he was in there too?" I asked, dusting myself off

"Over here, I'm just gonna lie down a bit." Aireon said, he raised his hand and waved it for a second.

Then Marfedelom's darkness faded and we saw the wounded warlock, he was starting to ware down; but so were we. We all decided to give him one last charge, one final run at him, the decisive moment in this battle to determine the end of the conflict. Right when we were all about to come down on him, like a hammer to an anvil, an eruption of fire exploded between us and Marfedelom. It launched all of us back and disarmed me from my staff, and when I looked up I could not believe my eyes. I saw the two-headed demon prince, Demogorgon.

"You have failed me for the last time Marfedelom. This was a simple and menial task, one my lesser minions could have accomplished this task. You have failed me, any last words?" He said, gripping Marfedelom by the throat,

"No master, it is you who have failed me. Your new demon prince!" Marfedelom shouted, and then black tendrils came out of his back and entered Demogorgon. The demon prince started to shout and scream in agony as he seemed to have his entire being drained, until he became a pool of black sludge.

A circle of fire appeared around Marfedelom, and he looked renewed and more powerful than before.

"Well, I would destroy you now but I have a new kingdom of hell to rule. We'll meet again, when I destroy the world you call home. Good day gentlemen, I'll see you in hell!" and he vanished into a column of fire, and I blacked out.

…..

"Hey, wake up little brother," I awoke in my room at the monastery; my brother and the Grand Master were sitting next to me.

"What happened? Did we win?" I asked

"Yes, and more; we totally annihilated Marfedelom's army even though a few scattered into the wilderness. No one has seen any sign of Marfedelom ever since that day, and your friends are doing good too. Drakak is now a commander of his father's royal army and a prince again. Mythrik took a group of workers to his home town and started to rebuild it, and they are making excellent time; and when he left the keep he found an egg that hatched into a dragon. The thing acts like a puppy around him and treats him as his owner, but you know how he is with dragons. Bodo and Bhar were reunited and now they are pretty famous with the rouge underground, but they act kinda like a pair of robin hoods so they're alright. Aireon decided to search for the people who murdered his father, but I haven't heard anything about it for a while. And I've decided to spend more time with my son; which is why I need to leave now. We will see each other again brother, just give me some time." Drexel said, he hugged me and then left; but I didn't want him too.

"I also have news for you Morgukia; I want you to be recognized as Master Morgukia. Where you lack the necessary skill to be called "Master" you exceed in heart and determination, and I want you to teach the students this. Will you do it?" he asked me,

And then, I decided to make a choice that would change my life forever; for good, and bad. "Yes, master," I said.

He left me in my chamber while I recovered from my battle, but I sensed something in the room with me. When I looked around I saw nothing, but when I looked in the mirror I saw something unbelievable.

"Congratulations "Master Morgukia", what a pleasure it is to see you again," said Marfedelom, in the mirror he was standing right where the grand master was before he left, but when I looked there was nothing there. "I just want you to know I wish for you to be happy, so happy that when I pry all this from your burning corpse your very soul will shatter! So enjoy it while it lasts, because I will come back; and I will set it all ablaze!" and with that last word the mirror shattered, and the presence disappeared.

I wasn't sure about a lot of things that happened then, but I knew one thing for sure; Marfedelom will return. My only question is: Will we be ready?


End file.
